Metroid:  Other S
by Enterprise F
Summary: Not long after the Bottle Ship Incident, bounty hunter Samus Aran is called to capture the remaining personnel involved in the projects crated on the Bottle Ship.  Meanwhile, on the G.F.S. Olympus, Samus Aran has just awakened from a three month coma...
1. Chapter 1

Legal Disclaimer: Metroid is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it, Nintendo does. It and all of its characters are the property of Ninendo and their respective creators.

Metroid: Other S

Chapter 1:

_Little more than one month ago, I brought the Metroid Baby, a hatchling Metroid from SR388 to the Ceres Space Colony. I had been ordered to SR388 in order to destroy the wipe out the energy-based predatory lifeform. After I had finished, I came upon a newly hatched infant Metroid. Unable to kill the Metroid Baby, I took it to Ceres Space Colony, where the scientists discovered that Metroids could be used for the benefit of galactic civilization. Before they could get any further in their studies, though, Ridley attacked and stole the Metroid Baby. I followed Ridley to Zebes, where I infiltrated the Space Pirate base, and destroyed the Space Pirates, the Metroids cloned from the Baby, killed Ridley once again, this time once and for all, and fought Mother Brain. Mother Brain had nearly killed me when the Baby showed up once more and saved my life, giving up its own life in the process, and granting me the Hyper Beam, which I used to destroy Mother Brain, once and for all. But my adventure was not over yet. _

_After escaping an exploding Zebes, I was taken to the Galactic Federation medical facility at Galactic Federation Headquarters, where I was looked after while I recuperated from my adventure. It was not long before I healed and went off in search of new bounties, coming across a distress signal codenamed "Baby's Cry". Upon investigating, I found the Bottle Ship and went onboard, where I met my old Commanding Officer, a Galactic Federation general named Adam Malkovich, a man I viewed as a father figure ever since my days serving in the Galactic Federation Army and Police Force. He had also received a distress signal and had gone to investigate. I joined with him, serving under his command once again for the first time in a long time. _

_Along the way, it was discovered that the Bottle Ship was housing various bioweapons developed and overseen by a rogue faction inside the Galactic Federation. At first, the goal was to create a Special Forces unit based on the Zebesian Space Pirates, but soon, they changed their goals into making Metroids, after having successfully cloned a Metroid. Eventually, they engineered the Metroid so that it no longer had its crippling weakness to cold. During the mission, I found a scientist named Madeline Bergman, who told me about the purpose of the Bottle Ship, faced off against my nemesis, Ridley, which was later revealed to have been another clone. When later going to Sector Zero, however, Adam intercepted me and took me down, so that I would not go into battle with the unfreezable Metroids and die in the process. Instead, he went into Sector Zero to detach it from the Bottle Ship and have it self-destruct, sacrificing his own life in the process. I later encountered 'another' of the scientists on the project, the real Madeline Bergman. The "Madeline" I had encountered before was an android housing an artificial intelligence based on Mother Brain. In addition to being based on Mother Brain, the AI, Melissa Bergman, or MB, also had Mother Brain's telepathic abilities. In the end, Melissa had tried to crash the Bottle Ship into Galactic Federation Headquarters and destroy the Galactic Federation due to how they had treated and used her. However, Anthony Higgs had survived and managed to stop the ship, and Madeline and I had an encounter with MB, resulting in MB's death. A Galactic Federation colonel was about to take Madeline into custody, but Anthony's reappearance and orders from the Chairman of the Galactic Federation Council superceded his orders and I, along with Anthony, were able to take Madeline to Galactic Federation HQ to testify before the Council._

_A few days after the incident, I returned to the Bottle Ship to retrieve the helmet of Adam. I fought some of the Desbrachians, superior bioweapons developed by either the Galactic Federation or MB. In addition, I faced off against the Special Forces that had been developed by the scientists onboard. On my way to Adam's post, I fought a much larger Phantoon than the one on Zebes, and eventually reached Adam's post. After retrieving the helmet, the self-destruct protocol activated and I had to get off of the ship before it was destroyed. I made it back to my ship and managed to evacuate the Bottle Ship before its destruction, and the destruction of all of the bioweapons onboard._

_ End log entry._

With that, Samus sat back and her seat and sighed as debris from the destroyed _Bottle Ship_ sped past her cockpit. She looked back down at the helmet and sighed, "I miss you, Adam." She soon drifted back into thought about her past few days: her meeting with Adam and the rest of Platoon 07 once more, her uncharacteristic meltdown against Ridley, the loss of Adam and the rest of Platoon 07 save for Anthony Higgs. She smiled at the thought of Anthony. He was tall, much taller than her, and she was no slouch at five-foot nine, and muscular. He had been the heavy weapons specialist of the platoon. She then gazed at the seat to her left and stared at the helmet of Adam. The memories of her first meeting with him, where she had given him her first thumbs down, flooded back into her mind, as did other countless memories of serving with him. For a moment, she thought she remembered something else. Her thoughts then took a more melancholy turn as she reflected on the deaths of her parents at the hands, or claws, of Ridley. Now, Ridley had finally been wiped from the face of the galaxy. She then shook her head and focused. Now that the _Bottle Ship_ had been scuttled, and she had retrieved Adam's helmet, she had to go off in search of new bounties. While the Galactic Federation Council was thrilled to have Madeline Bergman delivered to them alive and unharmed so they could hear her testimony, she knew that the renegade elements of the Federation were still out there, and they were likely not thrilled about Madeline's survival and testimony. Samus wondered if they would seek retribution against her and Anthony as well. More importantly; though, she had to find more bounties. She might not be driven by greed the way many other bounty hunters were, but good feelings and benevolence would not put food on the table, supply her with fuel or missiles for her ship and suit.

Samus was about to plot a course for her current residence on Daiban when an alert chime sounded. The flashing blue light on the console indicated that there was an incoming transmission. Samus pushed the button and the face of a middle-aged human male with brown hair graced her screen.

"Did I catch you at a bad time Samus?" the man asked.

"No Councilman, not at all," Samus replied, a little awkwardly. "What can I do for you, sir?" she asked.

"If it is no trouble, we would like you come to Galactic Federation Headquarters on Daiban," the Councilman replied. "The Defense Department has a job offer for you. This one is a bit more permanent, and has better job security for someone like you, than being a mere bounty hunter."

Samus was a little skeptical. "May I ask why the Chairman of the Defense Department wishes to hire a bounty hunter? Why not use the military to accomplish whatever you need?"

"You'll be filled in when you arrive if you agree to take the job. However, I need to know whether you're in or you're out now. I had hoped to reach you earlier, but you weren't responding."

"How much time to I have to decide?"

"Five minutes," the Chairman responded.

This took aback. _That's a lot of time_, she thought sarcastically. She considered her options. While she was a bounty hunter and she had taken on some dirty jobs before her first mission to Zebes, she still had a conscience. And money would likely be tight. While there were a ton of fugitives present, the rewards for capturing, or even killing, them was less than impressive, even for the occasional serial killers that fled after bail before trials or escaped from prison. Less savory jobs, such as the assassination of witnesses at murder trials or kidnapping of family members of people that were being blackmailed, however, were a lot more rewarding monetarily, even if a piece of one's soul died upon the completion of such missions. Samus had never taken on those missions, that she knew of, but she had in her earlier career, taken some jobs where she did not ask a lot of questions, when she bothered to ask. This had been before she was more experienced in the trade and knew which questions to ask. She had changed a lot since her late teens.

Eventually, Samus responded, "I'll be there. When do you need to see me Chairman Lorenz?"

"As soon as possible," Lorenz replied. "I'm sending you an encrypted file. This is the code you will use to see me. Make sure you are not seen. This meeting is of the utmost importance and must be kept secret. Only I and a few others outside of the Chairman of the Galactic Federation Council know of this, or of my offer to you."

"I understand," Samus replied. She wondered whether or not she should be getting suspicious.

After a few seconds, the file appeared on her screen. She opened the file and received the access code, a single letter, "S". "File received," Samus told Lorenz.

"Good," Lorenz said approvingly. He waited a moment before finishing, "I and the others will be waiting."

"Yes sir," Samus responded before the transmission ended. The screen then went blank with the words, _End Transmission_ flashing across the screen. Samus then sat back in her chair and smiled. She had not expected to get a job offer so soon, at least not one that she would likely have taken. Even better was the fact that she would likely have a permanent job. For a moment, she began to question whether or not it was such a good idea to commit to a job before knowing what the job was. She shrugged off the thought. If it was something that went against her sensibilities, she could always reject the mission later. She was a powerful bounty hunter, after all. She then leaned over and plotted a course for Galactic Federation Headquarters on Daiban. It would take her a couple of hours to reach Daiban from her current location, so after plotting the course, she sat back and went to sleep. The chime would wake her when she exited warp. As she fell asleep, she did not notice the stars elongated and becoming lines flashing past the cockpit as her small gunship entered warp.

Samus's gunship exited warp over a large planet that was covered in cities. Thousands of ships of all types of shapes and sizes ranging from fighter-sized craft to multi-kilometer long transports were flying in designated flight lanes even in orbit. Not to be ignored were the hundreds of large defense platforms that orbited the planet. These platforms looked from the outside to resemble jars and looked strangely similar to the _Bottle Ship_, though Samus knew that the platforms were unmanned and fully automated, controlled by computer on the surface of Daiban by the Chairman of the Galactic Federation. Supplementing these forces were additional Federation warships of various classes. The largest and most imposing of which were the massive Olympus-class battleships. These ships possessed a frightening compliment of missile and laser batteries, along with a compliment of Stiletto-class starfighters. There were also a noticeable number of Griffin-class frigates present as well. Samus stared at the planet. Despite being covered with cities, Daiban was relatively self-sufficient. The cities had massive hydroponics bays where they grew crops for food, and the oceans on Daiban were still teeming with life. Countless members of multiple species in the Galactic Federation called Daiban their home. Samus found a lane that was designated to take her to Galactic Federation HQ and she flew down to the planet. Along the way, she was asked for her identification and authorization, which she gave to the requesting ships. She then dove down into the atmosphere and flew towards her destination, over an ocean.

Eventually a large, island came into view. Samus lowered her craft and found a large ovular building that stood out among the rest of the skyscrapers and other buildings present in the capital city of the Galactic Federation. Samus lowered her ship and searched for a hangar bay where she could land. After finding a hangar, and an unoccupied spot, she began the landing sequence. Once she had landed, she shut down the ship and exited. Upon exiting the ship, she then searched for an elevator that would take her to the fiftieth floor of the building. Upon finding the elevator, she stepped onboard and let it take her to the fiftieth floor.

Eventually, the elevator reached the fiftieth floor and the doors slid open in front of her. She then stepped out into the large hallway and found that it was full of Galactic Federation personnel, none of whom she recognized from her days in the Galactic Federation. Many of the people she walked past were human. Despite the Galactic Federation consisting of multiple species, humans made up a large portion of the military. In fact, several fleets only consisted of humans. Humans often bred faster than members of other races and had also spread far beyond Earth. They had numerous colonies across over a hundred worlds. Their worlds ranged from small mining colonies that consisted of no more than a couple hundred people, like Samus's own K2L, which had been destroyed by the Space Pirates, to the planet Earth, which held almost six billion people on the surface alone, with many more millions occupying various orbiting stations, and having defenses that rivaled, if not exceeded, those of Daiban. Many derisively called the alliance of Earth colonies, along with Earth, itself, the Earth Federation, for Earth was practically an autonomous entity within the Galactic Federation, and was quite powerful in and of itself. And while technically, all of the planets held the same degree of autonomy, no one in their right minds wanted to cross Earth at all, for while humans may have been weak physically, compared to other species who had natural weapons as a part of their bodies, they more than made up for it in their technological prowess, and their own ferocity, and tactics in battle.

Samus walked by the various groups of personnel, most of them young humans, likely either new recruits or students studying to become officers in the Galactic Federation Army, on her way to the main hall. She did not stop to talk or say hello, though. She was in a hurry. She wanted to see what job Lorenz was offering her. She had a feeling that someone higher up than Lorenz was the one that was actually doing the offering, and she wanted to know whom it was, assuming there was someone higher up than Lorenz calling the shots. After all, the rogue faction of the Federation that had co-opted Adam's report and decided to go forward with Project Metroid Warriors was still unaccounted for, and besides the possibility of the Federation colonel that had boarded the _Bottle Ship_ to apprehend Madeline Bergman being involved, of which there was no real evidence, besides his reaction to Anthony's orders being given to him directly from the Chairman of the Galactic Federation Council itself, the trail had gone cold. She soon found the door that led to Lorenz's chamber. She found the chime and pushed the button, a buzz issuing from the door.

"Who is it?" a male voice asked over the speaker.

"Samus Aran," came the reply.

"Enter," the voice directed.

Samus pushed another button below the chime on the door and the door to Lorenz's chamber slid open. She then stepped into the room. Its interior was dark, with only a small light coming from a small lamp on Lorenz's desk. Sitting at the desk was a Caucasian human male with dark hair, and a short beard.

"Welcome to my work chamber, Samus," Lorenz greeted. "I hope you are not too inconvenienced by the darkness."

"Don't worry, Councilman, I'm used to dark places," Samus replied politely.

Lorenz gave a chuckle. "Yes, but here, what lurks in the dark isn't trying to kill you."

Samus gave a small smile at Lorenz's attempt at humor. "Nevertheless, I think that now that everyone is here, we can afford a little more illumination," Lorenz stated. "Lights on, normal setting," he called out in a strong voice.

The lights immediately came on and the once dark room was now flooded with light, or at least it would have seemed that way to those who were inside the room who had acclimated to the room's darkness. Inside the room stood two other men and several armed soldiers wearing Galactic Federation Army power armor suits. The others were quite at ease with the presence of the army soldiers. Samus immediately recognized one of the men as the Federation Colonel who had attempted to apprehend Madeline Bergman, and whose orders had been countermanded by Anthony's and the Galactic Federation Chairman's. The other man was a man of medium height with bluish hair. He looked to be taking everything in stride and had a casual expression on his face. Samus knew him by always seeing him next to Chairman Elric. Elric had recently succeeded Keaton, after Keaton's death when _Federation One_ exploded, at the post. There was also a great deal of controversy as to the fact that Cyrus was his Vice-Chairman, especially since the one group that did not want Cyrus anywhere close to the Chairmanship was his own homeworld, Earth. Not only that, but Cyrus had no political experience before being chosen to be the Vice-Chairman by the current Chairman of the Galactic Federation, Elric. There were rumors, Earth stated that they were more than rumors, that Cyrus had been the head of a criminal organization that had sought world conquest, and that his attempt to ascend to being Chairman of the Galactic Federation was merely a step in his own goal of conquering the world. Earth had even said that there was the potential that Cyrus and Sylux, the notorious bounty hunter that held a deep abiding hatred for the Federation, were one and the same. There was no proof of the accusations, though, and as such, Cyrus had been allowed to become the Vice-Chairman of Elric. Earth's response harsh, though, telling the GF that it was their funeral if they allowed Cyrus any real power in its decision-making. Samus also noticed that standing at the side of Cyrus was a black furred creature resembling an Earth dog with silver horns where its ears should have been, and a thin tail with a triangle-like structure at the end of it. The creature looked up at her, but made no indication of its feeling towards her, one way or the other.

"Samus, let me introduce you to the Vice-Chairman of the Galactic Federation Council, Cyrus Mann," Lorenz said, motioning towards the blue-haired man. Cyrus nodded towards her. "And also, let me introduce Colonel Archie Mansfield," he said, gesturing to the older-looking Galactic Federation colonel standing next to Cyrus. "I take it you two know of each other," Lorenz added.

Samus gave a nod, as did Colonel Mansfield. "A pleasure to meet you again, Aran," Colonel Mansfield said in a haughty, stuffy voice.

Samus suppressed a groan. She had never liked him due to how he had treated Madeline Bergman during his attempt to take her into custody. Samus began to worry that Lorenz and Cyrus were making a mistake trusting him enough to bring them into this meeting. She did not voice her mistrust of him, though, there would be time for that later.

"Now that we've all been introduced, let's get down to business," Lorenz began. He then turned to Cyrus and said, "It's your show, Vice-Chairman."

"Thank you, Councilman," Cyrus said, giving a courteous bow. He then turned to Samus and told her, "Samus, we have called you here because of your past service to the Galactic Federation. Your record of service has been exemplary, from the destruction of the Metroids all the way to the destruction of the Space Pirates on Planet Zebes…twice. You have destroyed one of the Galactic Federation's greatest and most dangerous enemies and have lived through countless battles. In addition, you helped secure the defeat of MB on the _Bottle Ship_, which was no small feat in and of itself, and uncovered a conspiracy within the very Galactic Federation, itself."

"When I had gone to the _Bottle Ship_ to apprehend Madeline Bergman, I had done so on the orders of Commander General Leroy Cutter, a general within the Galactic Federation Marine Corps," Colonel Mansfield said, cutting in. "I found it odd that a Marine general would order an army unit to apprehend a villain, so after Anthony arrived, allowing you to take Dr. Bergman to the Galactic Federation Council, I began an investigation of my own. In the intervening days, I found that there were several generals in the army that had been orchestrating research into bioweapons development, and other uses for bioweapons. One of the generals was the very general that had sent me to intercept Madeline Bergman and take her into custody, Commander Cutter."

It was then that Lorenz cut in, "When Colonel Mansfield gave me his report yesterday I knew that we had a large problem. As you know, Commander General Cutter has a lot of supporters in the military, especially since the vast majority of the military consists of humans, and many of them are from Earth and its colonies. As you know, Earth, itself, is viewed by many as being its own little Federation, separate from the rest of the Galactic Federation. Many worlds don't like Earth very much and view it as arrogant, despite its seeming lack of representation within the Galactic Federation Council."

"Why would Earth think that it isn't adequately represented in the Council?" Samus asked. "It has a seat on the Council, as do the other colonies of Earth."

"Yes, but only Earth has _a_ seat," Cyrus answered. "Earth has hundreds of colonies, ranging from Mars, with more than a hundred million people on it, all the way to 'Planet Nowhere' in the far reaches of space, with less than a hundred permanent residents. Earth and Mars may have a seat, but 'Planet Podunk' doesn't, at least not an Earth 'Planet Podunk'. 'Planet Podunk' for the Phyrigisians, a people who come from a moon, does. Earth doesn't like that. It doesn't like that at all. That's why Earth has its own senate."

"So, why hasn't Earth talked about this to the rest of the Galactic Federation?" Samus asked. "If Earth has a problem and contributes a lot to the GF, won't the GF be willing to listen?"

"We are," Cyrus answered. "After all, I, myself, am from Earth. They have my ear no matter what past there may be between the people of Earth and myself. Still, there are issues on Earth as well. The Galactic Federation doesn't like the military power that Earth, itself, has acquired in recent days. In the last three years, Earth has been building up its defenses, and the rest of its colonies, affiliated and independent alike, have gone and done the same. Earth's soldiers are also mainly Galactic Federation Marines, or at least use their suits and weapons, so their infantry forces are forces to be reckoned with. And besides, Earth has made no overtures to the Galactic Federation Council to speak of. All they've done is build up their forces."

"So why haven't you gone after General Cutter?" Samus asked. "Surely you have the resources to take him into custody for questioning and demand an explanation for Earth's sudden military buildup."

"Because we don't want a war with Earth," Lorenz replied. "And Cyrus has already requested a meeting with Earth officials. Initially, it had been due to the fact that we were planning on moving the capital of the Federation from Daiban to Earth, but Cyrus was also requesting insight as to Earth's actions. Earth's president merely stated that he did not want GFHQ within ten parsecs of it, and his sentiment also speaks for the people of Earth and their sentiments as well."

"We fear that if we go in towards Earth, guns blazing, we could start a Galactic Federation civil war," Colonel Mansfield interjected. "While it is highly doubtful that Earth would be able to prevail, a war of this magnitude, and against a world as heavily fortified and armed as Earth, would be excessively bloody. Even with the Space Pirates having been destroyed with the annihilation of Zebes and the death of Ridley and Mother Brain, we still have our own enemies. We don't want to give the Kriken Empire a chance to nip at our heels while bringing Earth into line with the rest of the Federation. We want to end this and get these conspirators red-handed. We know who and where they are right now. That's where you're going to come in, Aran."

"What do you need me to do?"

"We want you to bring them in," Cyrus replied. "Alive if possible, but if not, we won't worry about a few dead bodies. Just bring them in, any way you can."

"Yes, Vice-Chairman, sir," Samus responded, giving him a salute.

"Aran," Colonel Mansfield called before she turned around to leave. "Your target is General Cutter, on Earth. He's going to be on the North American continent in a small town known as Maryvale." He then took out a round CD-like object and handed it to her. "Plug this into your computer once you leave," he told her. "It contains the access codes required to be able to enter Earth airspace without being shot down."

"I understand, sir," Samus replied, taking hold of the disc.

"One more thing, Samus," Cyrus added. "We're authorizing you to use everything in your arsenal to apprehend or neutralize General Cutter and his staff. Everything," he reiterated.

Samus practically licked her lips at the command. She had no restrictions on this mission. She had access to everything in her inventory. She figured that this mission would be a good deal easier than her mission on the _Bottle Ship_ or either of her missions on Zebes. Yes, she would not fail this mission. There was just one more thing to finalize.

"My usual rates do apply," Samus informed them.

"And more," Lorenz replied. He then got out a check and gave it to Samus. "This is a check for three hundred thousand Gold Credits. You get a three hundred thousand Gold Credits for General Cutter, plus an additional one hundred thousand for any of his staff or other military or political personnel that you bring to us alive. Dead will only net you fifty thousand per head."

"I understand," Samus responded. She was beginning to wonder if she should be suspicious. Fifty thousand Gold Credits was a lot more than most military personnel made in an entire year, and if Commander General Cutter had a lot of accomplices or aides, she could really rack up the money. She had the potential of earning more money for this mission than she did for her job on SR388.

"Will that be all?" Samus asked.

"Yes, Ms. Aran," Cyrus answered. "You may go, now."

Samus then bowed and turned to leave. As she approached the door, it slid open. As soon as she made her way through, the door closed. After she had left, Lorenz looked over at Cyrus and said, "I don't think that it was a good idea to include Colonel Mansfield in this discussion. It will arouse her suspicions."

"Not necessarily," Cyrus replied casually. "Samus already has a lot on her mind with the death of her father figure, mentor, and confidant, Adam Malkovich. In addition, she also has her stunning unexpected meltdown against the Ridley clone to think about as well."

"That _was_ unexpected," Lorenz said. "I would have expected her to handle Ridley better than she did given Samus's history with him. His reappearance should not have surprised her or caused her to have a nervous breakdown in front of him."

"Her reactions to Ridley's appearance were consistent with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Colonel Mansfield told them. "Perhaps she acted the way she did due to believing that Ridley was finally dead once and for all on Zebes when it exploded. Samus has been said to have shown signs of fear of Ridley before."

"The problem is, though, that she had faced Ridley six times since he murdered her parents," Lorenz replied. "And she 'finally killed him' four of those times, with Ridley disintegrating during one of those battles. Yet, he reappeared on Ceres. And every time since she was three, she has defeated Ridley when the two of them engaged in battle, or at least caused him to flee. Before then, Ridley had never caused Samus to freeze in front of him before."

"Let's just hope that Ridley, if he is indeed somehow still alive, doesn't decide to crash the party on Earth," Cyrus said sarcastically. "Still, these lingering issues with Ridley could make her more malleable to our wishes in the future. However, we must not do anything foolish now. This is our chance to know how willing Samus is to work for us."

"To finally have Samus Aran working directly for the Galactic Federation once more will be a boon for us all," Colonel Mansfield said, almost longingly. "Particularly if she is working for _us._ She _is_ the ultimate weapon. To use the Chozo term, she is 'Metroid.'"

The others nodded in agreement. Cyrus then told the others, "We're done here, for now. Dismissed."

The others saluted him and then left. Once the others had departed, pushed a button on the computer on his desk and typed in a few commands. When the face of a young woman appeared, Cyrus told her, "Get me Earth, I need to talk to one of its commanders immediately."

"Yes sir," the woman responded. Cyrus then smiled. Samus was about to be tested in not only her loyalty and ability to interpret her orders, but also in her skills and abilities.

Meanwhile, on planet Earth, General Cutter was waiting in his command bunker in the military base in the town of Maryvale. He was sitting in a chair, waiting for the latest reports. He gave a sigh, for he had a bad feeling about what was about to happen. Project Metroid Warriors had been a miserable failure, with the computer MB taking control of all of the weapons that had been produced by the project. MB had had an army with which she could have crippled the Galactic Federation with a single decapitation strike should she have managed to crash the _Bottle Ship_ into Galactic Federation Headquarters. It was only the actions of Samus Aran, Anthony Higgs, Madeline Bergman, and the soldiers that had arrived that put an end to MB's rampage. A chime sounded from his computer. He scooted over to his computer and pushed a single button. The silhouette of a human male appeared before him on the screen.

"You've been spotted Leroy. A bounty hunter is coming to kill you. She is quite formidable," a deep male voice emanating from the silhouette told him.

Commander General Cutter nodded. "Understood. Who is the bounty hunter coming after me?"

"Samus Aran," the silhouette answered.

"Samus Aran? But last I heard, she was still in a coma back on the _G.F.S. Olympus_!"

"Well, she's better now, and she's coming for you."

Something then clicked in Cutter's mind and he nodded knowingly. "If she gets as far as me, do you want me to kill her?"

Cutter was able to make out the silhouette nodding. "Yes," the male replied. "Do your best to kill her. Don't hold back. You cannot afford to be captured alive."

"Are her orders to kill me or to take me in?" Cutter asked.

"Her orders are to get you any way she can."

"Should I try to force her to kill me?"

"Do what you think you must to survive and escape."

A look of realization then crossed Cutter's face. He suddenly began to realize that there was a very good chance that he was not going to get out of this mission alive. He then said, "I understand." He then gave a pause. "When will she arrive?"

"In a couple of hours."

"I copy," Cutter replied as he cut the transmission. He then pushed a button inside the base and cried into the speaker, "Security alert. We've got a bounty hunter coming after us. Close up all computers and delete all files if necessary. We can't leave anything for the hunter to find!"

A chorus of affirmatives echoed throughout the speakers. He knew that that would be their final act in the service of the Galactic Federation. If the Council could not, or would not, do what had to be done in order to protect the Galactic Federation from its enemies, he would. He knew that it would require a lot of effort, and sacrifice. He knew that he had no real chance of living through this mission; and that he would be viewed as a criminal for his actions. Still, he was at peace. He knew who it was that he was going to face and what had to be done for the greater advancement of the Galactic Federation. If Samus was able to defeat and/or kill him, then great. It would prove that she was everything they hoped her to be. If she could not manage that, then he knew that the experiment would have been a failure, and they would have to start again from scratch, something that would be next to impossible with the Galactic Federation breathing down his neck. What was worse was that he was sacrificing his own men to injury, capture, or death and they had done nothing wrong. They had only been following orders, legal orders at that, for none of them knew the truth about the data contained in the computer system in this base. None of them knew what he had done or was doing. That was the most difficult part of all, knowing that dozens, if not hundreds, of innocents would die. But that was another part of the mission. How would Samus react to having to kill innocents, even if she only knew that they were innocent after the fact? She had faced something a little like that during her mission to SR388, but he knew that it was different with Metroids. Metroids, themselves, were bioweapons developed by the Chozo, the ones who raised Samus, if the information recovered from archeological digs on Taurus IV was accurate. Samus had not been able to kill an infant Metroid, she had since referred to numerous times as "the Baby". He did not relish the others having to calm her down if she, indeed, did in fact kill any innocents just following their orders to protect him and the information here that would lead Samus, and the Federation, to the ringleader of the whole organization. He then sat back in his chair and waited for the arrival of what he had termed Bounty Hunter S…Samus Aran.

Meanwhile, in another part of the galaxy, the battleship _G.F.S. Olympus_ drifted through space, flying a holding pattern over the planet Norion. One month earlier, they had responded to a distress signal. A ship had fled from an exploding planet and they had managed to find and retrieve one survivor, Samus Aran. As of yet, she was still in a coma. Her Power Suit had been overloaded by the Hyper Beam when it had activated, and had reverted to its initial form just as Samus evacuated the exploding Zebes. Unfortunately, after Zebes had exploded, her ship had been damaged and its hull penetrated by radioactive debris from the destroyed planet, irradiating both the interior and exterior of the ship. Without her Varia or Gravity Suit, her shields had not managed to hold out and she had suffered radiation poisoning. Her Varia Suit's shield was fluctuating on and off, so her exposure had only been intermittent. Only the quick response to Samus's distress signal by the _G.F.S. Olympus_ had allowed her to survive. Admiral Castor Dane, an aging man in a traditional Galactic Federation Navy uniform, with hat, made his way down the gray corridor to the medical bay of the ship to check on his passenger. She had helped him and the Galactic Federation get out of a horrible jam during the Phazon Crisis one year ago. She had single-handedly saved the galaxy from the sentient planet, Phaaze, and its Leviathan Seeds. She had also wiped out the Metroid threat and crippled the Space Pirates. She had done so much for the galaxy; it was time the galaxy did something for her. And Dane would do his part to repay that debt.

He arrived at the medical bay and asked the doctor on duty, a woman in her early thirties, "Any change in her condition?"

"A little, sir," the doctor replied. "She's getting better little by little. I guess she'll probably regain consciousness in the next couple of days or so. She really did deactivate her suit just in the nick of time."

"Or that suit had a failsafe activate."

"That too," the doctor agreed.

"Okay, let me know if her condition changes and/or if she wakes up."

"Yes sir," the doctor told him.

Admiral Dane then looked in at the blond haired woman lying down on the bed, dressed in hospital robes. Two technicians and nurses looked over the machines and checked on her condition just to make sure that there was no change. Admiral Dane did not envy breaking the news of the death of her former Commanding Officer, Adam Malkovich, when she awakened. He then went over to check on the latest reports on the status of her gunship. Her gunship had suffered damage and had been contaminated with radiation when it had been bombarded by radioactive debris and had been sent to the shipyards on Aliehs III due to the fact that the _Olympus_ did not have the necessary parts to repair her ship. However, after checking the reports, he had found no change on the ship's status, which was surprising. He would have to launch an investigation of his own into what was going on, since he had heard of Samus somehow reappearing on the galactic map and playing a role in the recent _Bottle Ship_ incident. With that in mind, Admiral Dane went to his ready room in order to go over the most recent reports on the status of his ship, as well as investigating the status of Samus's gunship, as well as the _Bottle Ship_ incident and see if the two were related.

In another part of the galaxy, a large rectangular cube drifted in space, pieces of metal still flying off of the main superstructure of the floating block. Onboard the floating block, lifeforms wandered the corridors, fighting, and feeding on, each other. A large creature with large mandibles and horns called a Rhedogian grabbed a Super Zebesian Space Pirate and powered a large reddish beam of energy and unleashed it upon its quarry. The beam instantly vaporized the Space Pirate, only for the Rhedogian to be swarmed by several partially robotic salamander/reptilian humanoid entities called Kyratians came in and fired a volley of electrical orbs at the Rhedogian, blowing off its horns in the first volley, and then beheading the creature with their second. After that, several Larval Metroids, translucent jellyfish-like creatures, swarmed the Kyratians and began devouring them, draining them of their life energy. After a few seconds, the Kyratians were nothing more than desiccated husks. All the while, from a sealed section of the drifting prison, a man watched the creatures go at each other, fighting and killing one another. The man checked to see how much water and food rations he had remaining. He still had enough water for a couple days. He could make the food last longer than the water, which was the real problem. He grimaced once more. He only hoped that none of the creatures onboard thought to try to send a distress signal to anyone outside the cube; for anyone who responded to it would most certainly be killed by the creatures. Most importantly, he hoped that _she_ did not find emergency communications and broadcast array. The man stepped away from the window. Adam Malkovich knew his mission. He had to find a way to destroy this cube before any of these bloodthirsty creatures got the bright idea to send a distress signal and lure a ship here, only for the creatures to storm the rescuing ship and take it over, allowing them to escape and spread throughout the galaxy.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Samus's ship emerged from warp a couple hundred kilometers away from Earth. Just as soon as she had exited from warp, she gazed outside her cockpit towards the sparkling blue jewel that was the human homeworld, Earth. She was struck by the large number of warships, defense platforms, and space-based turrets that surrounded the planet. She also noted that there were relatively few civilian starships and transports around the planet. It was as if Earth had been transformed into a fortress world, rather than the civilized world that it was known as. Forget Daiban, it was clear that Earth had far more formidable defenses. Samus tallied at least three hundred defense platforms, each armed with an obscenely powerful complement of lasers, mass drivers, and missile launchers surrounding the planet. These defense platforms were smaller than the ones surrounding Daiban, but they were noticeably more powerful in their armaments, as well as their defensive shielding. These unmanned defense platforms sported defensive shielding strong enough to shrug off even the strongest conventional anti-starship/space station weapons of the Galactic Federation, Space Pirates, and the Kriken Empire. The Space Pirates had learned this the hard way when they had launched a Leviathan Seed towards Earth, escorted by a dozen of their strongest Phazon warships, only to watch the defense platforms vaporize the Seed with a single blast. A few seconds later, the Space Pirate warships had met the same fate. As if these defenses were not enough, the platforms were supplemented by one thousand orbital defense energy cannons similar to the one that protected Norion, each of which had the firepower to knock down the shields of all but the strongest of enemy warships with one shot. In addition to the stationary defenses, there were over one hundred starships protecting the planet, as well as multiple surface missile silos containing multiple large fusion missiles, for the Earth did not want to risk housing any matter/antimatter missiles or weapons on world due to the devastating destructive power of uncontrolled antimatter. In addition to the missiles, defense platforms, and turrets, there were also squadrons of fighters and bombers on patrol around the planet, and even the solar system as well. Each of the bombers was equipped with matter-antimatter missiles and space bombs designed for use against capital ships. Any mission to take Earth by any force save for the Galactic Federation fleet would be a suicide mission; and even the Galactic Federation fleet, itself, would not be able to take Earth without taking extreme losses in the process.

Just as Samus's ship had exited warp, her ship was immediately targeted by the hundreds of defense platforms and defense lasers. A transmission then sounded over her radio. "We have you on our sensors. Please identify yourself immediately," a voice requested. The voice sounded stern to Samus's ears.

"My name is Samus Aran," she spoke confidently into her radio.

After a few seconds, the voice crackled in over the comm once more, "We do not list you as a citizen of Earth. Please provide your authorization code and passport information for permission to enter Earth airspace."

Samus smiled. She took the CD-like object and placed it inside her computer. She then pushed a button and a series of symbols that looked to be alien writing appeared on her screen. She looked for the symbols on her own console and pushed each one in the correct sequence. She then sent the transmission to the source of the transmission. After a few seconds, the voice sounded once more, saying, "Authorization code and passport information accepted. Welcome to Earth, Samus Aran."

Samus breathed a sigh of relief when she read that the stations and turrets were no longer locking onto her ship. The platforms could destroy enemy warships in little more than single shots of their main weapons. Her small gunship would have been instantly vaporized if even their secondary weapons had hit her ship. She continued past the massive gauntlet of defenses. Several squadrons of fighters passed by her ship in order to scan it to ensure that she carried no illegal cargo. The fact that the fighters had not shot her down indicated that they did not detect anything illegal on her ship. Her ship was shielded against the more passive sensors of older starfighters and gunships, but these new fighters that had scanned her were the new SFA-4 Katana fighter/attack air-and-spacecraft. These ships had powerful sensors that even her own ship should not have been able to block. She saw that one of the fighters was beginning to lock onto her gunship when her early warning alarm sounded. Just as suddenly, the alarm stopped and she found that there was no longer an alert to an enemy fighter locking onto her. She heaved another sigh of relief. She did not want to have to fight her way to Earth to capture this Commander General Cutter. Evidently, she had friends in high places. She figured that Cyrus must have had some sway over the defenses over Earth. She just hoped that the rumors of Earth hating his guts were just that.

Her ship sailed into the atmosphere, her shields flaring as the ship entered the atmosphere due to the friction between her ship and the air. After a few seconds, she broke through the cloud layer and began to make her way towards Maryvale, a small town in North America. She checked her map and set her ship on an automatic course for the town. She looked out the cockpit and stared in wonder at the marvelously beautiful planet below her. Despite being one of the most advanced planets in the Federation, Earth still had a lot of woodland and farmland. It was self-sufficient and even able to supply a great deal of food to the rest of the inhabited planets and moons in the Sol solar system. Earth also exported foodstuffs and other items to other planetary systems outside of Sol that could not be grown on other worlds. This was in addition to the starship designs and other items and materiel that Earth exported. As a result, Earth was one of the most prosperous planets in the Galactic Federation, another reason why some other worlds were not all that crazy about Earth. There was a feeling that Earth did not need the Galactic Federation, while some felt that the Galactic Federation needed Earth in order to be as powerful a political and economic entity as it was.

As Samus flew through the atmosphere over the lands, she noticed that Earth had far less ship and air traffic, both in space and in atmosphere, than Daiban. Many Earth towns were still relatively simple, with electric and/or fusion battery powered ground cars as the primary means of transportation between home and work for Earth's nearly six billion people, as well as a power grid that was based on a series of fusion reactors supplemented by numerous wind turbines, solar collectors and geothermal generators. The grid also had multiple redundancies so it would be highly difficult to strike at one point and take out the entire grid. Another thing, besides the space and air defenses that made Earth a nightmare to conquer was the fact that almost two-thirds of its citizenry was confirmed to be armed with advanced personal defense energy weapons. And many who did not have energy pistols or rifles were still armed with projectile weapons that were even more dangerous to unarmored opponents due the physical slugs that they fired, some of which were expanding, frangible, or even explosive in rare cases. Despite all of the weaponry that humans of Earth carried, they were generally quite peaceful. Crime on Earth was low, and while they were wary of outsiders, if the outsider, human or alien, was non-hostile, Earth humans were generally welcoming of them. Also, Earth also had a wide variety of non-sentient and semi-sentient bioforms that was far more diverse than any other known world in the galaxy. The most formidable of the lifeforms on Earth was a species called Pokémon that were highly varied in morphology. Some were pathetically weak, yet others could take out all of Earth's defenses with a single thought should the thought cross said Pokémon's mind. Some were considered mammalian, while others were more lizard-like in origin. Others were closer to fish in their design and structure. Even without Pokémon, though, Earth had a large variety of other plant and animal life that was both beautiful and terrifying to behold.

A chime interrupted Samus's musing as she looked at the map. She was approaching Maryvale and her target, General Cutter. She pushed a button on her display console and the map of the United States, with a red dot noting the small town of Maryvale and General Cutter's location disappeared and a map of Maryvale appeared in its place. Samus saw a red dot on the right hand side of the map, but suddenly, the screen flickered and several other dots appeared on the map. Samus pushed a series of buttons, but the screen kept on flickering. "Damn," she muttered. "He's jamming my sensors. I'll have to go down there and flush him out the hard way." Samus did not want to leave the ship on the edge of town and have to go in to apprehend Cutter. She knew that Earth would see her actions as being illegal, especially if Cutter had any clout with the representatives of Earth in the Galactic Federation Council, or even within the political confines of Earth, and she would likely be facing retaliation fairly quickly. This would especially be the case if the mission became violent before reaching Cutter and she had to injure or kill any Earth police or military troopers in the process. And chances were that if Cutter had set up a jamming field, then he was already expecting her and had already set up some defenses.

Samus approached the town, slowing down as it neared the town. She scanned the map that had been on her screen and, switching off her tracking sensors, studied it to see if there was a place where she could land her vessel with only a minimal chance of being discovered. She quickly found a small forest on the outskirts of town. She knew that the chances of encountering some of the local wildlife was greater the farther in she got, but she decided that it was worth the risk in order to prevent her ship from being discovered. She quickly glanced at her sensors to see if there were any ships or fighters following her. According to short-range sensors, she was clear. The only ships behind her looked to be headed in a different direction, and were traveling at a higher speed. Since she was flying well below the atmospheric speed limit, she felt as if the behavior of the small transport, only slightly larger than her own gunship, was normal as it flew by without any incident. It made no attempts to slow down as it continued on its own journey. Once the ship was out of sight, and off her short-range sensor screens, she dove down towards the canopy of the forest. She took in the sights as she lowered her ship. She thought back to the underground jungles of Brinstar on Zebes before its destruction. She had spent a lot of time training in upper Brinstar, since it was one of the two locations that were relatively hospitable to humans. Even unaugmented humans could have survived in that area for a time. With her infused Chozo DNA, she had no problems whatsoever surviving in Brinstar.

Her ship descended and she saw all sorts of animals scurrying away from her landing area, as well as birds fleeing from her path as she gently lowered her starship to the surface. A cloud of dust issued from the ground as the thrusters pushed against the ground, slowing her descent until she gently touched the ground, a small shudder ensuing upon touching down. Samus then cut off the engines of the ship, putting them in standby mode. She had a feeling that she might need to evacuate the planet fairly quickly. She rose from her seat and immediately several blocks formed around her, quickly transforming into plates of armor that surrounded her body. After a second, Samus's suit had completely materialized around her body. She then stepped onto a small pad the center of the ship and stood. Several beams of energy emerged from the wall and scoured her suit, fully supplying the suit its energy and fully equipping Samus with a full loadout of missiles and Power Bombs. She checked her inventory and found that she had full access to both her Super Missiles and Seeker Missiles, as well as her Diffusion Beam, a weapon she had gained on the _Bottle Ship_. Next, she checked to see the number of Energy Tanks she had. She currently had nine full Energy Tanks. She also checked her own beam inventory and noticed that all of her beams were functioning, providing a stacked effect. She deactivated the Wave and Plasma Beams, leaving only her Ice and Diffusion Beams activated. She hoped that by restricting herself to the Ice Beam that she would be free to fight off any resistance with a much lower risk of killing any of Cutter's troops. After all, she had the feeling that only Cutter was the enemy here, and that his troops were in the dark as to his actions. Besides, she felt that General Cutter was not exactly going to be a difficult opponent to defeat. Before leaving the ship, Samus checked the chronometer and set it to Earth time. It was about six o'clock in the evening, local time. Samus looked up at the sky and saw that it was dark out. She checked the external temperature and found that it was around thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit. She then sighed as she went over to the bottom hatch so she could exit her ship without making too much of an entrance on Earth.

The bottom hatch opened and Samus was lowered onto the ground. She stepped off the small platform and proceeded to make her way forward. Several small animals, called squirrels and chipmunks by the humans of Earth, fled before her returning to their trees or holes. Samus strode on by, barely aware of the creatures that were fleeing her footfalls. After a couple minutes of hiking, she emerged from the small forest and entered the small town of Maryvale.

Upon entering the town, she saw that there were only few people on the street, so she would not likely draw a lot of attention to herself. She checked her map and still found that there were several red dots that were supposed to be representing the location of General Cutter. Samus scowled. It seemed as if her map was next to useless at the moment. She would have to do this the old fashioned way. Since she had left her ship at around six o'clock in the evening, chances were that General Cutter may have been at his house, and not at the base, wherever that was. Samus wondered if she could go and ask one of the few bystanders that were still outside where the base was. She began to approach one of the bystanders, a male whose skin tone indicated that he was either Latino or Hispanic. He looked to be in his early thirties and looked to be finishing decorating some of the bushes surrounding his house. Samus then remembered that this was the holiday season on Earth, where several of their religions had important holidays around this time of year. As Samus approached the man, he quickly retreated into his house. Samus considered trying to use her sensors to see if she could scan what he was doing inside, but decided against it. She decided to merely start with the base first. Maybe she would get lucky and find Cutter working overtime at the base or in the process of leaving the base. It was the best idea that she could come up with at the moment, so without wasting any time, she made her way through the town, searching for the base.

As she made her way through the town, she looked at all of the festive displays of lights. She looked at decorative scenes depicting a husband and wife kneeling near a baby boy with a halo over his head. Other displays depicted a fat man with gray hair and a beard, wearing a red suit. This man was sometimes accompanied by representations of Earth lifeforms known as reindeer. This was the holiday season on Earth. Adam had always loved this time of season. By his experience, it was a time of family gatherings and of giving. Adam, she mused. A melancholy feeling came over her as she continued through the town. Adam would have loved these displays. She then noticed that she had stopped to admire the displays while in full armor. As such, her presence had attracted some attention from the residents. She noticed a police officer coming towards her. She turned to face him as he came. None of his weapons were drawn, but the holster that housed his pistol was unsnapped and an energy rifle was slung over his shoulder. The officer stopped a few meters away and looked at her suspiciously. He eventually called over to her, saying, "Samus Aran, I notice that you are in full armor. May I ask why you are in full armor?"

"I'm on a mission here," the bounty hunter replied. "I am not in any violation of any laws, here, am I?"

The officer did not give his answer immediately. "No, but I have received several reports of an armored soldier walking through this town. You're not a Galactic Federation soldier or an Earth soldier so others were quite suspicious. My partner and I instantly recognized you by the shape of your armor and your distinctive arm cannon. Carry on."

_His partner_, Samus thought, shocked at the revelation. Her sensors had not picked up any other people besides the officer and some of the other civilians. None of them had any uniforms or weapons that she could see. She then noticed a man in the distance step out of a hovercar. This man had the same police uniform that the officer that was talking with Samus wore. Underneath her armor, she gritted her teeth. How could she have missed him? If the officer had been a Space Pirate or other bounty hunter rather than a police officer, Samus could have been ambushed and taken out relatively quickly if they had been equipped with the correct weapons. The officer then let Samus pass and continue on her quest.

It did not take long for Samus to reach her destination. On the other side of the small town, she found what looked to be an armory. The building was only a couple stories tall and looked to not be all that large, relatively speaking. There was a parking lot for ground cars and a fence surrounding the perimeter of the small base. The parking lot was deserted. She did not know whether this was a good thing or bad. The sign outside read _Maryvale Armory and Research Base_. It was written in multiple languages, human and non-human, so Samus knew that this base belonged to the Galactic Federation. She tried to get a scan of the area, but her scanners were being jammed. She scowled. This would not be as easy as she thought. She walked the perimeter of the base until she found the entrance gate to the base. She found a panel on the fence next to the gate and she scanned the panel. Instantly, the symbols that were the combination to the lock appeared on her visor. Samus proceeded to enter the code and a creak sounded as the gate slowly opened for her. Samus stepped forward and proceeded to enter.

Once inside the base grounds, she approached the building, hoping that everyone was gone for the evening…everyone save for General Cutter. She doubted the possibility of General Cutter having remained behind if no one else had. She scanned the premises for any signs of activity. So far, the building was dark and her scanners found no sign of activity. She was cautiously optimistic that even if General Cutter was not at the base, that there may be some useful information that she could take back to Cyrus and the others. With that hope, she approached the door to the main building and gripped its knob. She turned the knob and heard, and felt, a click. She pushed the door open and proceeded to make her way inside the base.

Inside the base, she found herself in a large, empty room with a desk in the back. She focused her scanners on the desk and scanned to see if there were any troopers or officers hiding behind the desk waiting in ambush. She raised her arm cannon and pointed at the desk. A single charged shot from her Ice Beam would be sufficient to freeze anyone behind the desk if there was anyone there. After a few seconds, her scans came back negative. She breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her arm cannon and approached the desk. Once there, she turned on the computer. The screen immediately sprang to life and a layout of the base appeared, along with a search directory. She immediately entered a search for General Cutter. The search returned the following information: _General Cutter is located on SL-28_. Samus grinned. This was excellent. The Commander General was still here. She was going to be able to capture him quickly yet. Before continuing with her mission, she used her suit's data recorders to record all of the data on the computer and download it to her suit. She would read the data once she got back to her ship, where she could download it to the computer. Once that was finished, she brought up the map that had been downloaded to her suit. She activated it and a small mini-map of the room appeared in the corner of her visor. She then brought up the remainder of the map and had it bring up the shortest route that would take her to the General. A line went from an elevator down to sub-level twenty-eight and directed her to the General's current location. She grinned. She had him now. The hunter proceeded to make her way out of the main lobby of the base and through a door, into the main hallway. A few meters away, she found an elevator on the right wall. She checked her map and found that this was the elevator that she desired.

As she approached the elevator, though, several bullets bounced off of the shields of her suit. Her shields flared with each hit and the gauge on her visor that indicated her shield strength flashed red. However, despite the strikes, the display indicated that all of her Energy Tanks were still full and the number of energy units still read '99'. The bullets were inflicting no damage to her suit. She scanned the dark hallway and found two Galactic Federation Army soldiers firing at her. She knew that their basic weapons, a rifle that fired solid bullets at high supersonic speeds, were not a threat to her. The large pistols that they carried as a sidearm, however, were quite dangerous, for they fired a blast of intense freezing energy. A single shot fired at the correct spot on her back could disrupt and disable her entire suit, as Adam Malkovich had demonstrated on the _Bottle Ship_ just before he went to make his heroic sacrifice to destroy the unfreezable Metroids and save her, over her protestations. The Galactic Federation soldiers quickly got the idea to use those pistols, for two shots came at Samus. They were fast for Ice Beam shots, but not too fast for her to dodge. Her rear rockets fired as she "sense-moved" out of the path of the two freeze bolts. The sense-move attribute increased her maneuverability and allowed her to avoid enemy fire that she normally would not have been able to. She had not had that ability before recovering from her second mission to Zebes, but she had used it to great effect on the _Bottle Ship_. She then took aim at the two Federation soldiers and snapped off two shots from her own Ice Beam. The two uncharged shots streaked towards the soldiers relatively slowly, compared to their shots towards her. The first shot struck one of the soldiers and encased him in a block of ice. Unlike Galactic Federation Freeze Guns, though, this would not be fatal to the soldier, for reasons Samus did not know. There, the Federation soldier remained, motionless. He would eventually thaw out, but she would be long gone by the time he did.

The second soldier fired another shot at Samus as she snapped off her first two shots. She was too busy trying to hit them that she did not notice the other ice shot until it was too late. Samus's rear rockets fired as she tried to sense-move out of the way of the bolt, only for her legs to be tagged by the blast. Due to Samus's shields, the blast did not freeze her, though her shields did flare as her suit sustained the hit and she noticed that the 99 on her display showing the current energy level of her energy tank dropped down to 49. _Damn_, she swore to herself. _A single ice blast took out half an Energy Tank with an indirect hit_? This was even more startling due to the fact that she was wearing the Gravity Suit, which increased her resistance to heat, but also to damage inflicted by enemy weaponry. Samus shook her head and snapped off another shot at the remaining unfrozen soldier. The soldier ducked behind a wall and the blast of energy sailed by, striking the wall at the other end of the hall, splashing outward, leaving a round circle of ice about two meters in radius. Samus waited for the soldier to emerge from his cover and fire again, so she could take a shot at him. She could not allow him to remain unfrozen and alert the General and anyone else in the base to her presence. As he emerged and took a quick shot towards Samus, she fired on him. His shot went wide of Samus, but her shot managed to hit true. It struck the blue and black armored soldier squarely in the chest and encased him in ice.

Once the fight appeared to be over, Samus waited for a few moments to make sure that no backup was forthcoming. Once she was confident those were the only two soldiers in the area, she immediately called up the elevator. There she waited, scanning the hallway for any signs of more soldiers. She also peeked back into the main lobby, just in case anyone had come into the base through the open door. She was beginning to get very suspicious of that open door to the base, but she shook off those feelings. She had a job to do, and she was going to do it. This bounty could not be all that difficult. It was not long before the elevator arrived and the doors slid open. Samus proceeded to board the elevator and pushed the button for sub-level twenty-eight. After she had boarded the elevator, the doors slid closed and she rode it down to the level that she hoped housed General Cutter.

While riding the elevator down to sub-level twenty-eight, memories of her last encounter with Ridley on the Bottle Ship came back to her. She could scarcely believe that she had had a complete meltdown after facing him, despite having faced him six times before, "finally killing him" four of those times. She had already gotten her revenge and much, much more. During this time of quiet, it gave Samus time to think about why she had completely broken down against Ridley on the _Bottle Ship_. And the thing was, that this was not even the real Ridley. It had been a clone created by the Galactic Federation, and even then it was not really intentional. They had wanted to center the new special forces program around the Space Pirates, and while Ridley had been a Space Pirate General, even the leader of the Space Pirates before landing on Zebes and having Mother Brain take command of the organization while she was alive, the Federation, or rather its rogue elements in charge of the project, created the army around MB, the artificial intelligence based on Mother Brain, not Ridley. Not only that, but that Ridley was bestial, even more so than normal. The Ridley she had killed on Zebes was quite intelligent and was even able to speak.

She shrugged and her thoughts drifted elsewhere. This time, Adam was the focus. She thought about how she had frozen the two army soldiers, rather than killed them, and hoped that Adam was looking down at her, approving of her actions. Despite being a military General and having a perfect military mind, Adam did not relish killing. Neither did Samus. As Samus continued her musing, she gave a short chuckle and a smile. Aside from his gruffness, she realized that the two of them were not all that much different than one another. Adam had a great respect for life in all of its stages, as did she. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered why she had taken the job to exterminate the Metroids. She knew why, though. Heck, even Adam said that their extermination was the right decision. The Metroids were uncontrollable and nigh-indestructible lifeforms that preyed on anything they could find. Size did not matter in the slightest. The Space Pirates had demonstrated the danger posed by Metroids. Her first mission to Zebes, where she killed Kraid, Ridley, and Mother Brain for the first time, and where she had first encountered the Metroids, had put her on the galactic map as a dangerous bounty hunter. She had been known before then, but she had only gotten really famous after that first mission.

The elevator soon reached sub-level twenty-eight of the base and a small chime sounded, snapping Samus out of her reverie. The elevator doors slid open and Samus emerged from the elevator. She was immediately met by half a dozen Galactic Federation Army soldiers. These soldiers did not waste time equipping themselves with their ineffective standard armaments. These soldiers were equipped with Freeze Guns and even possessed plasma cannons. Samus grimaced as the soldiers took aim at her. She used her sense-move ability to dodge the shots fired at her from the Freeze Guns and the two plasma cannons utilized by the heavy weapons troopers. She managed to dodge all but one of the blasts. As she was skipping around the room, dodging each of the soldiers' energy blasts, she accidentally jumped into an oncoming plasma blast shot from a fully charged plasma cannon. The blue plasma bolt struck her in the chest and sent her flying backwards a few feet. She instantly noticed an Energy Tank go dark. She swore. This was bad. She had already lost an Energy Tank and a half to the soldiers. If these soldiers were merely Army troopers, then Samus shuddered to think what other defenses that General Cutter might have.

Samus decided that she had no choice now. She could not afford to take the easy way out in dealing with these Federation soldiers. She immediately began charging her Ice Beam as more freeze and plasma blasts streaked towards her. She immediately sense-moved out of the way of the oncoming blasts, instantly charging her arm cannon in the process, another nice addition that had somehow been granted to her suit during her stay in the hospital after her mission to Zebes. She then unleashed the charged blast of freezing energy upon the soldiers. The bluish-white burst of energy hit the lead soldier and detonated like a missile. Four other soldiers were encased in ice after the detonation. Samus hoped that the explosive icy blast would not be fatal to the soldiers, but she did not know one way or the other what their final fates would be. That left two soldiers. The impact of two more energy blasts, with the disappearance of two more Energy Tanks with the meter on the next one holding steady at 99 units of energy told Samus that she had just been one-two punched by an ice burst and a plasma bolt. She targeted the final two soldiers and quickly unleashed a volley of icy blue bolts of energy. The soldier with merely the freeze gun was hit while the soldier with the plasma cannon was able to take cover behind a wall. Samus waited for him, or just his cannon, to emerge from cover and take a final shot at her. Her wish was granted when the large, bulky barrel of a plasma cannon emerged. Samus immediately targeted the weapon and fired a series of icy bursts from her arm cannon. The bursts streaked towards the cannon and managed to strike the cannon in the barrel, encasing the barrel in ice. Unfortunately, for the soldier, the barrel had been frozen just as he had pulled the trigger on the cannon. Due to the damage suffered by the barrel, the cannon was about to explode. Seeing no other option, he removed the cannon from his suit and tossed it towards Samus. Samus dodged the incoming cannon. Realizing that if it exploded that the frozen soldiers might be killed, she quickly jumped onto the cannon and covered it as it exploded.

The force of the explosion was incredible. Despite her shields, two more Energy Tanks were drained by the explosion alone. Samus was also propelled into the air, where she collided with the ceiling, cracking the surface and falling to the floor, where she landed on two legs. Unfortunately, the explosion and landing caused her back to be turned to the soldier and, seemingly knowing about Samus's weak spot in her armor, he pulled out his freeze gun and fired a blast of energy right into the center of Samus's back near the suit's thrusters. Samus cried out as she was hit and began to feel her suit destabilizing. The pain was even worse than it had been when Adam had disabled her suit on the _Bottle Ship_. She slowly turned and pointed her arm cannon towards the soldier, who had emerged from cover. She knew she had scant seconds to freeze him before her suit would disappear for at least a few minutes. If she were lucky, she might still be able to fight, though given the after effects of Adam's firing on her, she doubted that. It was do or die for her. She targeted the trooper and shot a single blast of ice the instant before her suit dematerialized. Her aim was true. The ice blast managed to freeze the trooper before he had managed to fire a second blast and likely either freeze or kill her. It was then that her suit vanished; the armored figure being replaced by a tall, athletically built woman dressed in a blue skintight suit with a single pistol at her side. After her suit disappeared, Samus collapsed onto the ground, writhing. Her pain was even worse now than it had been before on the _Bottle Ship_. There she remained, playing dead until she felt strong enough to continue her mission. There, she hoped and prayed that there were no more soldiers in the vicinity, for she was in no condition to engage anyone in battle right now.

It was a few minutes before Samus felt well enough to continue. When she did, she activated her Power Suit and immediately, the suit materialized over her body. As soon as the suit was fully functional once more, she checked the amount of energy she had in her Energy Tanks. She grimaced at what she found. She had only one spare Energy Tank still full. This would not be enough for taking down General Cutter if he had defenses more formidable than a few Galactic Federation Army soldiers. Heck, given the firepower these soldiers were packing, as well as their knowledge of her suit's weaknesses, chances were that she would not be able to defeat a similarly sized force of soldiers that she had just barely managed to escape by the skin of her teeth. And there was also the issue of her suit's newfound fragility. She had always remembered her suit having strong combat shields. Yet both on the _Bottle Ship_ and here, her suit was notably more fragile than it had been on Zebes or during any of her other countless missions. She banished the thought for the moment and focused on finding any recharge stations that could restore her lost energy. She activated her map and prayed that this base was equipped with a recharge station of some sort. She was in luck, there was a recharge station, and it was only a few doors down the hall to the right.

Samus raced down the hall and into the recharge room. Inside was the standard recharging pad. She stepped onto the pad and a series of beams quickly surrounded her, rising from the floor to the ceiling. She then felt a refreshing sensation come over her as healing and restorative energy washed over her. Her display promptly showed that her energy tanks were full and her missile capacity was at full. Once she was fully restored, she entered the hallway once more and made her way past the frozen Federation Army troops. She followed her map and made her way down the first corridor, taking a right at the fork and entering a second corridor.

Inside the second corridor, she was met by two more Galactic Federation Army troops. Before the troops could raise their weapons on her, Samus fired two blasts from her Ice Beam and froze the troops solid. She proceeded to make her way past the troops and continued on her search for General Cutter. She passed the troops and followed the map to General Cutter's office. She turned at the next fork and encountered a quartet of troops that looked to be Galactic Federation Marines. Samus knew that these troops were more formidable than their army counterparts so she took no chances against them. The dark gray armor was also protected by shields, just as she and Space Pirate Troopers were. She charged her Ice Beam as the Marines opened fire on her. They did not have the Freeze Guns or plasma cannons of the Army troops, but instead of having slugthrowers as their primary weapons, they had arm-mounted energy cannons that were a match for the weapons of Space Pirate Troopers. They fired at Samus using three round bursts. Samus quickly retreated back around the corner, firing her Ice Beam at the lead trooper. The pulse of freezing energy crossed the distance and struck the trooper, encasing him in ice despite his defensive shielding. The explosion upon the energy burst striking him also scattered to the rest of the unit, but their shields managed to hold against the explosion. Samus quickly charged another Ice Beam blast and unleashed it upon the troopers. The second blast managed to freeze a second trooper, but not before a series of three round bursts of energy managed to tag Samus in the process, taking down almost two-thirds of an Energy Tank in the process. Samus responded by charging another blast of her Ice Beam, dodging fire from the two remaining troopers, managing to avoid all but a few bursts of energy. However, the few that did hit managed to deplete the rest of her Energy Tank. Fortunately, she still had eight Energy Tanks left, with her initial supply of energy unaffected. She fired the burst of freezing energy at the troopers and the detonation encased both of them in a solid block of ice. Samus took one last look at the map and determined that she was standing just outside of General Cutter's office. She walked past the frozen troopers and, deciding to not be diplomatic and kicking the door open, she walked into General Cutter's office.

The interior of General Cutter's office was well furnished, with a desk by the far wall and bookcases lining the walls around the room. Samus did not care what books or other types of information that the cases contained. All she cared about was the figure that rose from the desk. She knew from the dossier that Cyrus had given her that she was staring into the eyes of Commander General Cutter of the Galactic Federation Army. He was clad in metallic armor that made him look much like the bounty hunter Sylux, who she had encountered in the Alimbic Cluster in the Tetra Galaxy. His armor covered his entire body. Only his head was exposed, and then only because of the helmet that was sitting on his desk. The blue armor also had two shoulder structures protruding from it. The only difference was that while Sylux had green glowing lines at various points of the armor, General Cutter had lightning blue glowing lines. On his right arm was another illegal weapon that Sylux had access to: the Shock Coil. Samus hesitated before moving towards him, showing her surprise at the potential prospect that one of the deadliest bounty hunters that also hated the Galactic Federation was, indeed, a high-ranking officer inside the very organization that said hunter despised. General Cutter looked at Samus and smiled. "It's nice to finally see you. I take it you recognize the armor. It is of the same design as the armor and Shock Coil that Sylux stole, but both _my_ armor and Shock Coil are superior to the one that Sylux stole.

"My mission is to take you in, Cutter, dead or alive," Samus declared. "You have been discovered to have been part of a project to develop bioweapons that were to be used as part of a coup against the Galactic Federation Council."

"Part of the project?" Cutter laughed. "Hell, I was the designer of the project! And it went farther than you think, bounty hunter Samus Aran!"

That did not matter to Samus. She merely raised her arm cannon to General Cutter and held it on him. General Cutter shrugged and put on his helmet. "So this is how it's gonna be, eh?"

Samus made no move.

"Fine then, Samus. Defend yourself!" he cried as he took aim and began to power his Shock Coil. The battle between Samus Aran and Commander General Leroy Cutter had begun.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

General Cutter began the battle by taking aim at Samus and firing his Shock Coil. Electricity crackled at the end of the projector and lightning arced across the room towards Samus. The lightning struck her and her suit's displays went red as she sustained the constant abuse of the attack. She looked at the display of her energy dwindling with each passing second. Samus, knowing that the Shock Coil was a short-range weapon, retreated back out into the corridor and hid behind the door. The connection between the Coil and her suit was interrupted and she was free. She quickly checked her display and found that she had about half of an Energy Tank. Apparently, the Shock Coil still had a weakness. It did not matter how strong the defense was, it would still drain energy from any shield or power source, but it did so at a fixed rate, so a weaker shield that still had a great deal of energy inside of it would be drained at the same rate as a stronger, tighter shield with the same amount of energy pumped into it. Samus stood stock still, crouching and pointing her arm cannon towards the door to General Cutter's office. The ends of her arm cannon opened outward, indicating that she was about to fire a missile. She charged the missile until it was a Super Missile. There, she waited for Cutter to emerge from his office.

Sure enough, Cutter quickly emerged from his office and pointed his Shock Coil towards Samus. As soon as Samus had a target lock on him, she let fly with her Super Missile. The Super Missile erupted from her arm cannon and a trail of smoke followed the missile as it streaked towards Cutter. Cutter was too slow to avoid the missile and it scored a direct hit on his armored suit. His shield flared as the missile struck and detonated. The explosion engulfed the General and blew a large hole into the wall of his office, expanding the entrance to his office. At first, Samus feared that her Super Missile was also going to shatter the frozen soldiers that were trapped relatively close to the entrance to the General's office. Fortunately, none of the frozen troopers shattered. As she had scanned the General, a red bar, denoting the strength of the defenses of General Cutter, appeared on the right of her HUD. The bar decreased in size as the Super Missile struck the General. However, it did not decrease by much. Around a tenth or so of the bar vanished with the hit. Samus, however, was not all that concerned. Since she knew that she did not have to worry about facing anymore Federation Army Troopers, she reactivated her Wave and Plasma Beams as she retreated, goading the General into following her, allowing her more space to use her more powerful weaponry. Sure enough, General Cutter took Samus's bait and continued after her, attempting to fire his Shock Coil, but Samus was too far out of range for him to score a hit.

The pursuit continued throughout the corridor until Samus ran towards a set of large doors down at the end of the hall. Knowing that Samus was faster in a sprint than he was, General Cutter switched to his own Power Beam and charged a shot. He quickly unleashed the shot towards Samus. Samus turned just in time to take the hit to her chest. The strike managed to drain a third of an Energy Tank from her, but otherwise, she was fine. She returned fire with her stacked Plasma Beam. A green pulse of energy reached out towards General Cutter. He charged forward, unconcerned about the damage his shields took when they were struck by Samus's beam. The damage was minimal, though, since Samus had not charged the beam. She did not make the same mistake on her second shot, though. As she continued towards the double doors in a zigzag pattern in order to avoid the Power shots from Cutter, she charged her Plasma Beam. A ball of green energy formed at the end of her cannon and once it was fully charged, the ball disappeared and her cannon glowed from the charge. She turned back towards Cutter and fired. The large green pulse rocketed towards General Cutter and he tried to dodge the blast, but was not fast enough, for he began his movement after Samus had already fired. The green burst of energy struck him in the chest and exploded. The explosion, due to the effects of the Diffusion Beam, did not increase the damage inflicted by the blast, but they would have damaged any comrades backing up Cutter. The strike was like a wrecking ball hitting Cutter. The force of the blast forced him to stagger a few steps forward before regaining his stride and continuing his pursuit of Samus.

Samus, however, was quickly closing in on the doors. She quickly checked her map and found that the room beyond was a storage bay and also had a quick escape elevator to the surface. This caused Samus a moment of concern. While she would definitely have an advantage if the area was full of junk and vehicles that she could use for cover while she literally sniped General Cutter, that elevator was also a good means of escape for Cutter should he run low on energy or his suit actually sustain damage during the fight. If she had been able to see Cutter's face, she would have seen his grin. He was thinking along the same lines. And the disadvantage that he would suffer was not as great as Samus would have initially believed due to his Power Beam. While it did not inflict the same level of damage as Samus's Plasma Beam, it was by no means weak, and it had a much greater range than his Shock Coil.

Samus arrived at the doors and turned, unleashing a charged Plasma Beam shot at General Cutter. Her beam struck him and he staggered a bit again before continuing after her, firing a volley of golden energy blasts from his Power Beam. A few of his shots managed to strike her suit in the back, which took ten units of energy from her current Energy Tank per hit. She returned fire at the General, taking wild shots at him while she entered the code to open the doors to the storage bay. After she entered the code and pushed the red enter button, the button changed from red to green, as did the outline of the large doors as a massive clank sounded and they began to retract. Samus then turned and focused on General Cutter once more. She stood still as she targeted a Super Missile at the General, powering up the missile with her arm cannon. As soon as she had locked onto the General and powered the missile, she unleashed it upon the General. While she was charging the missile, he had come into range of Samus and activated his Shock Coil. Blue electrical sparks arced from the Coil towards Samus and struck her suit. Fortunately, it did not disrupt her charging of her Super Missile. However, the energy being drained from her suit's defenses was replenishing Cutter's in the process. Samus then unleashed the missile at Cutter and quickly turned away and fled. She did not watch as the missile struck the ground a foot in front of Cutter and detonated, its explosion throwing Cutter off his feet. She only knew that her attack was successful when her HUD no longer flickered red and her Energy Tanks were no longer being depleted by the Shock Coil. Things were not looking good for Samus at the moment, she had lost three Energy Tanks in the fight already. She had to make sure that she did not lose any more. She also checked her missile capacity. So far, she had seventy missiles left, so she would not have to worry about having enough ammunition for the fight against the General. Samus ducked into the room and quickly scanned the room.

The interior of the room was littered with junk and garbage. What looked to be the remains of old atmospheric fighters lined the floor. There were also trucks, or what looked to have once been trucks, and cars, both ground bound and hover capable as well. There were several workbenches in the room as well. None of the vehicles in the room looked like they were serviceable or salvageable for combat operations. She did not put it past Cutter to have been collecting these vehicles, for they looked to be decades, if not centuries, old. These antiques were likely to be very valuable to collectors, assuming Cutter was not a collector himself.

Samus quickly looked for a good place to spring an ambush on Cutter. While she did not find a good spot very quickly, she did find something else that was surprising. She found an active console situated at the other end of the room from the entrance. She studied the console for a second and could see its glowing screen. Samus wondered if it would be a good idea to download the data from the console. After a moment's thought, she decided that she had nothing left to lose. Her suit was protected against computer viruses and other malicious programming. Before General Cutter arrived to continue the fight, she rushed over the console to download the data to her suit.

As she arrived at the terminal, she plugged in her arm cannon and began the download. As she was downloading the data, she saw several images flash across the screen. She made out fleeting words; mainly report titles and names associated with the reports and project information. She would be able to study the information further after the mission was completed. Most of the names that flashed across the screen were unfamiliar to Samus, but she was able to make out a few. She recognized Adam Malkovich and Madeline Bergman. She was not expecting to see the name Cole Lorenz flash across the screen. She also saw the fleeting names of Leroy Cutter and Archie Mansfield as well. Suddenly, things were not so simple for her. She knew that she would have to study this data further once she got back to the ship. Just before the data was fully downloaded, she also saw a fleeting report of something called _Project Hunter_. She also witnessed an image of her body and the images of DNA strands appear. "What is this?" she muttered to herself. "What were General Cutter and his people doing?"

"I'd love to tell you, bounty hunter Samus," came General Cutter's reply from the front of the room. Samus turned and faced him. The general's helmet prevented Samus from seeing his grin. "But if I did so, I'd have to kill you."

"What is Project Hunter?" Samus asked harshly.

The general grinned. "That's for me to know and for you and the Galactic Federation to never find out."

Samus grunted. She knew just by that brief exchange that there would be no way that the general would tell her the secrets of Project Hunter. She would just have to get the information out of him either during the trek back to Galactic Federation Headquarters, or find out about it during his hearing before the Council. The general grinned once more at Samus. "Don't think that you will be able to capture me, babe. I know everything there is to know about you. Why do you think I instructed my soldiers to fire on your back when you engaged them on your way to me."

Samus almost gasped at the revelation. Things just became a lot different now. Before, she was secure in her knowledge of her ability to defeat General Cutter. She had never expected him to be wearing power armor similar to the suit that Sylux wore, or have a Shock Coil as well. If he had the Shock Coil, then chances were that he also had the Lockjaw alternate form. A Morph Ball-like form that allowed him to drop a bombs. Two bombs could be dropped and an electric tripwire would spring between the two bombs. A third bomb could then be dropped and the bombs would home in on whoever happened to trip the wire and they would detonate with devastating force. Samus knew that this was General Cutter's intention. The good news, though, was that he had not tried to use the Lockjaw when pursuing Samus into the room. Of course, she wondered why he would anyway. Here, while Samus could hide and snipe at him, he could also hide and set up traps as well. Samus began to wonder if it was such a good idea to bring the battle into this room. Yes, her Wave Beam attribute to her arm cannon would allow her to fire through cover, but since Cutter could hide, she would not know where to fire so she could hit him. While she was worrying about the details, General Cutter curled up and assumed his Lockjaw form. The form consisted of a blue energy ball surrounded by two tetracarbon ceramic-alloy blades joined together by, in Cutter's case, a blue energy thread. He then headed straight towards Samus.

Samus witnessed the General transform using the Lockjaw and decided that it was time to attack. She stood still and locked onto the approaching Cutter. Cutter soon dropped a blue energy bomb a few meters away from Samus. Samus did not have sufficient time to charge a Super Missile, so she let loose with merely a normal missile. The missile erupted from her arm cannon and rocketed straight towards the onrushing Cutter. The missile scored a direct hit on Cutter and detonated. The shields protecting Cutter flashed for an instant as his form glowed red with the hit. Samus saw the red bar in the right corner of her visor deplete with the hit. It did not decrease by much, though, causing Samus to grimace.

Cutter soon laid down another energy bomb behind Samus. As soon as the energy bomb was laid, an electrical beam emerged from the second bomb and struck the first. Samus knew that she had to be careful now. If she touched that electric tripwire, the two bombs would converge on her and explode, inflicting severe damage to her suit. Samus continued firing Plasma Beam shots at General Cutter, scoring hits with each and every shot. However, she knew that she was inflicting only moderate damage with her beam attacks. She just did not have any way to inflict heavy damage to Cutter merely standing still. She made a mental note to herself to modify her missile launcher and its targeting system once this mission was over so she could lock onto enemies and fire missiles while on the move, something that she had been able to do in all of her previous missions save for the mission to the _Bottle Ship_.

Samus continued tracking the general as he laid down a third energy bomb. Samus was not worried at first. She merely believed that the mine was merely another bomb to be avoided while engaging the General. It took a moment for it to remember that Sylux was able to lay a third bomb and that when he did so; the three bombs converged to the center of the triangle like a net. "Oh crap!" she swore as she realized that the three bombs were converging on her position. Cutter's helmet hid his grin from her eyes as the bombs as Samus tried in vain to evade the bombs. The three bombs converged on her and detonated, engulfing Samus in a massive explosion. Samus issued a cry of shock and pain as the bombs had hit and detonated. The detonations wiped away four of her remaining Energy Tanks. She only had two tanks remaining. She swore again. _I'm getting mauled by Cutter, here. Am I really this weak? Why?_ It was a legitimate question. Memories of her fights with Sylux told her that there was no way that those three bombs converging on her should have inflicted _that_ much damage on her. She was already hamstrung by the fact that she only managed to acquire nine Energy Tanks on the _Bottle Ship_, her others having been burned away by Mother Brain's Hyper Beam. She berated herself for thinking that this mission would be a cakewalk. There was no way that a commander general in the Galactic Federation would not take precautions against her. It was just that she had managed to defeat Ridley on the _Bottle Ship_. All of her battles against Ridley were tough, far tougher than General Cutter should have been. She did not have time to dwell on it. She needed to come up with a new strategy for beating him, and fast. She could not afford to let him get a connection between him and her with the Shock Coil. This would be difficult enough without her having to worry about Cutter constantly replenishing his energy. Samus did know one thing, though. She knew that unlike her Chozo Beams, the Shock Coil required ammunition. The question was how much ammunition did General Cutter have for the Shock Coil. Another piece of good news was that the Shock Coil was also a short ranged weapon, so she could be safe from it at long range. The problem was, though, that Cutter also had a Power Beam, and that was still dangerous at long range. It was then that Samus remembered something else from one of her battles against Sylux. She remembered getting up close to him in Morph Ball mode and repeatedly dropping Morph Ball Bombs at Sylux's feet. He had had difficulty getting a lock on Samus in her Morph Ball form at such a close range due to the Morph Ball's small size. However, the Morph Ball Bombs were quite dangerous weapons, and used correctly, could be devastating to an enemy. Samus then grinned. She had a way to even up the battle. General Cutter quickly transformed back into his normal form and took aim at Samus with his Shock Coil.

Samus quickly curled up and transformed into Morph Ball mode. Now, a small orange ball no larger than Cutter's Lockjaw mode, she rolled towards General Cutter as he fired a stream of what looked to be lightning at her. Due to the close distance and speed of Samus, however, the general was having some difficulty being able to get a lock on Samus. Samus then ran into him and laid down a Morph Ball Bomb, which promptly detonated upon deployment. The detonation formed a small ring on the ground as it exploded outward. Samus's shielded and armored shell protected her from the explosion and the force of the blast merely pushed her up into the air. Commander General Cutter, however, was not so lucky. Cutter grunted as the bomb detonated, its explosion inflicting moderate damage to the defenses of his suit. Samus did not stop there, though. As soon as the first bomb struck, she dropped another Morph Ball Bomb on Cutter. It, too, inflicted damage onto Cutter. The explosion depleted the red bar; indicating Cutter's defenses just a little less than a normal missile would. Samus did not care, for she had an infinite supply of Morph Ball Bombs. She dropped another, and another. Each explosion inflicted more damage to Cutter, while also propelling Samus higher and higher into the air. She was propelled so high that she deployed one bomb in midair, which remained suspended and did not explode. Samus guided her small descent until she struck the head of General Cutter, deploying another Morph Ball Bomb. Apparently, the head area of his shields were weaker than the shields of the rest of his suit, for this detonation inflicted at least twice the damage to his suit that the other bombs had. All the while, General Cutter had tried to lock onto Samus with his Shock Coil, only to fail miserably.

General Cutter frantically checked his defensive readouts. So far, Samus's attacks had done a number on his systems. The two initial Super Missiles had inflicted a great deal of damage to the shields of his suit; however, he had managed to replenish some energy with the Shock Coil. Unfortunately, had had also sustained several hits from Samus's Plasma Beam, as well as a hit from a normal missile. Add the damage already inflicted by the Super Missiles to the damage he was sustaining at the hands of Samus's Morph Ball Bomb assault, and he realized that this fight was suddenly swinging in Samus's favor. He had to do something fast or she would wear down his remaining defenses and either manage to capture him or kill him. He did not panic, though. That Lockjaw trap that he had used against Samus had inflicted significant damage to her as well. By his calculations on the power of her suit, he figured that if she were hit with another trio of Lockjaw Energy Bombs, that she would either be killed, or her suit would sustain severe damage.

General Cutter decided to transform into his Lockjaw mode once more and proceeded to roll away from Samus. Samus rolled after him, but he dissuaded her pursuit by dropping an energy bomb right behind him. Samus tried to swerve to avoid the bomb, but she was unable to do so and her forward momentum carried her into the bomb. The detonation inflicted about twenty points of damage to her remaining shields. This was not too bad all things considered. The issue was that Cutter was managing to put some distance between himself and Samus. Samus decided that she would not be able to catch up to him the normal way, so she devised a new strategy.

Samus quickly transformed back into her normal form of an armored warrior and focused her attention on General Cutter. She smiled. He had around a quarter of his shields left after the numerous attacks that he had sustained. She ducked into an aisle of trucks and kept her ears peeled for any signs of his passing. She knew that she would only get one shot at this, and while it was not yet a do or die situation for her, she wanted to end this fight as quickly as possible now. She did not care about capturing the general alive anymore; now, it was all about defeating him and surviving the battle. To that end, she was willing to do whatever she had to in order to accomplish her mission.

Sure enough, she soon heard the rolling of Cutter's Lockjaw coming from the left. Her visor also zeroed in on an unseen object that was coming around. Samus locked onto the unseen target and waited as she charged a Super Missile. After a second, Cutter's Lockjaw form came to the opening. He must have noticed Samus, for he quickly stopped and tried to reverse his direction away from the small entrance. Samus smiled. It was too late for him. He would have been better off merely rolling on by. As it was, though, his pause allowed Samus to fire the Super Missile and be reasonably sure of it scoring a direct hit on the general. The missile streaked towards the General and exploded upon striking the rolling ball and twin blades. The Super Missile took out almost half of what Cutter had remaining of his shields, so she figured that a few more Plasma Beam Blasts would be sufficient to take down the good General.

Samus immediately rushed out from the line of trucks, charging her Plasma Beam and beginning her pursuit of the general all over again. Once her beam was charged, she took aim at the fleeing general. Once she had a shot, she fired. A green burst of energy erupted from her arm cannon, streaking straight for the general. The pulse of energy struck the general's Lockjaw form and exploded, inflicting more damage to the general. Samus charged another blast as she continued to run after the general. Cutter, seeing that Samus was taking aim once more, decided to return to his original form and charged a Power Beam blast. He knew that his Charge Beam blast would not be sufficient to kill Samus, his own readouts on her remaining defensive strengths showed as much, but he hoped that it would give him enough time to escape.

Once the beam was charged, he took aim and fired back at Samus just as Samus fired her own blast. The two blasts streaking towards each other on a direct collision course. In a fraction of a second, the two beams collided. Contrary to what Samus or Cutter believed would happen, Samus's charged Plasma Beam blast was not disrupted and dispersed along with his own beam. Instead, Samus's Plasma Beam actually swallowed his own Charge Beam blast and continued streaking towards him. The even stronger bolt of plasma now rocketed towards Cutter and struck him in the back as he turned to flee towards the elevator. Upon striking him, the blast detonated in a massive display of fireworks and sound. General Cutter gave a cry as his suit was briefly consumed by the explosion. However, he quickly emerged from the explosion falling to the ground, his suit marked with black burns and sparking in several places. Samus checked her displays and found that the shields of General Cutter's suit had collapsed. He was vulnerable now.

Samus quickly snapped off a series of shots at his armor. Cutter scurried along the floor, taking a couple hits in the thickest part of his armor, which managed to hold against the energy bolts and not let any energy through to the General's body. The General continued towards the emergency elevator that would allow him to evacuate the base and escape this lost battle. Once he arrived at the elevator, he quickly pulled the call button. He looked back and saw Samus coming towards him. He quickly snapped off several shots from his Power Beam towards Samus. Samus did nothing to avoid his strikes. Despite her suit's weakness, compared to her suit's shielding while on her second mission to Zebes, she knew that she could withstand the barrage of shots that General Cutter was unleashing upon her. She tried returning fire, but the general was making himself a difficult target. Samus merely increased her running speed towards the general, taking more shots at him in the process.

Fortunately, for the general, the elevator arrived pretty quickly. It arrived at the storage bay and its doors slid open. Cutter dove into the elevator, evading several more shots from Samus's Plasma Beam, and quickly closed the doors, pushing the button for the ground level entrance. He curled himself up into a ball on the floor of the elevator as Samus continued to fire several Plasma bursts up at him. His eyes went wide in horror as several green pulses of plasma seemingly phased through the elevator floor and through its roof. The general prayed that the elevator cable was not snapped. He needed to do something so Samus would not continue firing at him. He remembered the warning and feeling that he was going to be nothing more than a test for Samus. So far, Samus had performed well, for a normal bounty hunter, but not to the level that they had expected from Samus Aran. It was the same for many of the bioweapons onboard the _Bottle Ship_ as well, save for the Zebesians, Desbrachians, Phantoon, and the Metroids. As such, he said, "Very well, Sam. It seems as if you fail after all."

He then watched as Samus became smaller and smaller as he rose to the surface of the base. Below the elevator, Samus shook her fist at the fleeing General Cutter. "Coward!" she uncharacteristically cried at the top of her voice. It had been quite a while since she had been this incensed. The strange thing, too, was the fact that she should have felt this way against Ridley when she fought him on the _Bottle Ship_. Just then, she realized that she had to get to the surface quickly, before the general managed to escape her. The only way she would be able to do so would be to Shinespark up the elevator shaft. She merely hoped that the general did not have too much of a head start on her.

Samus soon retreated to the exit to the room back into the corridor. There, she heard the voices of several troopers getting louder. She quickly realized that the frozen troopers must have thawed and called in backup. Samus wasted no time running towards the elevator shaft at full speed. After a few seconds, the rear boosters on her suit fired. After three more seconds, the Speed Booster fully activated and a blue field of energy surrounded Samus as she ran towards the elevator shaft. As she neared the shaft, she crouched down and came to a halt inside the shaft underneath the elevator. Her suit glowed blue for a bit before she jumped and performed a Shinespark up the shaft. Samus Rocketed up the shaft at blazing speed. She rapidly approached the descending shaft, signaling that the general had reached his floor. Samus blew through the elevator car, obliterating it, and continued up the shaft until she reached the top.

General Cutter had exited the elevator a few seconds earlier and was casually walking away and towards the base's exit when Samus came bursting through the elevator shaft and the floor. Cutter swore as he recognized the enraged bounty hunter emerging from the shaft, spinning her way out of the shaft, the signature golden field of energy surrounding the hunter's body signifying that she was using a Screw Attack, and that she was coming right at him. The general fled from Samus as fast as he could, taking numerous shots at her as he ran outside the base, praying that he could reach his ship in time. He soon saw it in the distance and did his best to reach it before Samus came after him.

A few seconds after fleeing the base, Samus blasted out of the base's entrance and came to a stop, scanning her surroundings for a second before picking up his trail. Not too far ahead, General Cutter had managed to reach his ship, a small transport that looked to be little larger than a Space Pirate Assault Transport. He quickly used his suit's ability to open the hatch to the ship and board the ship. It was then that Samus arrived to witness him lowering himself into the ship. Samus took a few shots at him, hoping to get lucky, but they sailed over Cutter's head.

Inside the ship, Cutter quickly took his seat at the pilot's station and powered up his ship. The ship's systems came online and he first powered the engines, then the weapons. He did not want to stick around to fight Samus anymore, for he knew that a few lucky shots could damage or shoot down his ship, but he did want to dissuade her from being able to get any good scans of his ship. As the ship began to rise into the air, a twin energy cannon was disgorged from the belly of the ship and Cutter had it zero in on Samus. Cutter then pushed the firing stud and the ship unleashed several blue energy pulses Samus's way. The pulses struck the ground all around Samus, the shockwaves from the blasts causing her to stagger forward as she tried to get into a better firing position to try to take down Cutter's transport.

On the ground, Samus feigned that she was getting desperate, firing several plasma blasts at his transport. Samus, however, had come prepared for such a possibility. She had brought with her a couple of tracking devices and had already pulled one out for use. While she was firing on the transport, she tossed up a tracking device, which affixed itself to the hull upon contact. The device was made of heat-resistant material so it would be able to resist reentry. The ship rose out of view, but Samus was not concerned. She took a few more potshots to maintain the illusion that she was still trying to shoot down Cutter. It was only a few moments before the ship rose out of sight and was out of range of her weapons.

Once the ship was out of sight, Samus rushed back to her gunship in the forest at the other end of town. She did not stop to talk to any of the people still outside their houses. She merely made her way through town and back to her gunship. Once she made it to her gunship she opened the ship and entered. Inside the ship, she began the startup sequence on her ship. A hum sounded and the engines began to fire. The ship lifted off and proceeded to speed through the air, rocketing through the atmosphere until it reached outer space. Once in space, Samus checked her sensors and found General Cutter's ship. She locked its signal into the computer on the off chance that Cutter somehow found the tracking device and removed it. Once that was finished, Samus activated her subspace radio, seeking to contact Cyrus and the others on Daiban.

Once the channel was open, she said, "Samus to Daiban, Samus to Daiban, do you read me?"

"I read you loud and clear, Samus," Cyrus's voice cracked over the radio in answer. "What is your report? Do you have General Cutter in custody?"

"No," Samus replied. "He managed to escape; however, I managed to plant a tracking device on his ship. I am in pursuit. I could follow him and shoot him…"

"Wait!" Cyrus called. "Don't necessarily apprehend or kill him yet. Instead, follow him and see if he's going to any of his accomplices. Madeline Bergman was merely the head researcher in charge of research on the _Bottle Ship_. There have to be other conspirators that need to be brought to justice. Perhaps Cutter's escape is a blessing in disguise. Follow him closely and report on who he meets with. We can then apprehend his accomplices while you go after him."

"Roger that," Samus responded. "Over and out." With that, Samus cut the transmission. General Cutter's ship then disappeared from the screen, a telltale sign that he had entered warp. Samus followed suit by following the tracking device through subspace and jumped into subspace in pursuit.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the galaxy, a frigate slowly drifted through space as if it were disabled. It had not suffered any damage; it merely did not want to be detected by any other hostile ships. However, the crew of the ship would not have minded having a rescue ship like an assault transport or even a star cruise liner coming to investigate. The crew onboard the frigate were Space Pirates, creatures that were basically reptilian humanoids, though the appearances of the Pirates tended to vary greatly. Most of the Space Pirates on the vessel were from the planet Urtraghus, and thus, had three-fingered hands and feet with one back toe and two forward toes. In addition, these Space Pirates were digitigrades, while the Zebesian Space Pirates had a plantigrade leg structure. The Urtragian Space Pirates also had insectoid mandibles and sharp teeth, though others sometimes had beaks. Oftentimes, Space Pirate physiology greatly differed due to them tampering with their own genetic structure to make themselves more suitable for life on whatever planet they were currently living or stationed on. The current arsenal of the Space Pirate Troopers consisted of a photonic power scythe on their left arms while they had a quantum energy cannon on their right arms. These varied in appearance and appeared as either a wrist-mounted guns, or inside the right claw, depending on the design of the Pirate.

The vessel they were on was one of the few Space Pirate surviving vessels in the galaxy. The Space Pirates had suffered horrific losses a year and a half earlier during what the Galactic Federation had termed the "Phazon Crisis". Almost their entire fleet had been destroyed when they had given their allegiance to the revived Metroid Prime that had taken the form of a being known as Dark Samus. The Space Pirates had aligned themselves with Dark Samus and the planet Phaaze. They had used Phazon on their ships to increase their power and defenses. They had become strong enough to take on the Galactic Federation openly. They had stolen Aurora Unit 313, an organic computer similar to Mother Brain, and plugged it into the planet. When Samus Aran, also known as "the Hunter" had gone to Phaaze and destroyed Aurora Unit 313, the planet Phaaze had also died with the Aurora Unit, and as a result, all Phazon was rendered inert, which resulted in the destruction of the vast majority of the Space Pirate fleet since most of their ships had been partially converted to Phazon and their ships had been destroyed in Phaaze's explosion. Those who had not been part of the fleet were still rebuilding their forces on planet Zebes, which had also recently been destroyed in raid by Samus Aran, killing most of the remaining Pirates. Still, there had been some Space Pirates in the starfleet that had not been corrupted by Phazon. These Space Pirates, as well as a few that had been on two unarmed research vessels orbiting Zebes, and the few that had managed to get onboard a few evacuation transports, were the only Space Pirates left. Fortunately, some of those who were onboard the evacuation transports had managed to retrieve vital genetic material and survivors of the Samus's assault.

In a small holding area deep within the ship, the discarded husks of two creatures lay on the floor of a cell. One of the husks was of a small, white furry creature that looked like a rodent with bird's feet. The second husk was of a larger, purple cross between a bird and a lizard. Just outside the cell was a large table surrounded by several Elite Pirates and even members of Space Pirate High Command. There were also several doctors working around the table. These doctors were protected by several Space Pirate Troopers and even some Golden Zebesian Space Pirates. Strapped down to the table was a large, purple pterodactyl-like creature known to the galaxy as Ridley. This was not the real Ridley, though, merely a mindless clone body. The body had been genetically modified so that the brain would be of a mindless beast. The Space Pirates had different plans for this body; for next to the table was a large brain and spinal column in a jar. The jar was connected to a computer with two amplifiers. "What's taking so long?" a deep voice demanded.

"Please, Lord Ridley, this is a delicate operation," one of the Space Pirate doctors. "We need to ensure that we can transfer your brain and spinal cord into the clone body."

"Is the clone body as strong and powerful as I was in life?" Ridley asked through the vocalizers.

"Yes, my lord, and more," the Pirate doctor responded.

"Then get on with the operation," Ridley demanded.

"Yes, my lord," the doctor replied warily. He watched as the Space Pirate Troopers, Elites, and High Commanders stared at him intently. He knew that he would either get a tremendous raise in both salary and rations, or he would be target practice and the next meal of the others. It all depended on the outcome of this operation. The doctor then alerted everyone, "We are beginning the operation _now_!" With that, all exits and emergency doors closed. Any unauthorized personnel that tried to enter the lab would be executed on sight.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

_Below the surface of planet Zebes, Samus knelt before Mother Brain, who towered over her in her massive humanoid-looking artificial body, the brain that was Mother Brain attached to the neck of her cybernetic body, which looked to be made of an organic torso, but mechanical arms and legs. Sitting on top of the torso was Mother Brain, herself, with an organic-looking segmented neck. The floor shook as Mother Brain stomped towards Samus. The bounty hunter tried to stand, but was unable to do so, Mother Brain's Hyper Beam had weakened her so badly. Despite her suit's shields not yet having been breached, she still felt the effects of Mother Brain's Hyper Beam. Samus checked her readouts. It did not look good. Mother Brain's Hyper Beam had taken out all but two of her Energy Tanks. Mother Brain's mouth opened and turquoise rings of energy emerged, and pelted her Gravity Suit, its increased defenses doing little to stop the blasts. The blasts collided with her suit and exploded, with vicious force, engulfing her suit. The smoke quickly cleared, and Samus emerged from the center, but she was still in bad shape. Her suit's weaponry was fried beyond her ability to repair. She had already expended all of her missiles and Super Missiles, so that was not too big of a deal. However, her Power Bombs had also been destroyed, and that __was__ a big deal since her Super Missiles and normal missiles had done little more than annoy the brain. Mother Brain continued to assault her with more energy balls, knocking down her shield even more._

_Soon, all of Samus's Energy Tanks had been expended; all that was left was her suit's basic defenses. Mother Brain closed her eyes once more and small dots appeared before her eye, entering the eye. Mother Brain was powering another Hyper Beam attack. Samus tried to move, but her suit was frozen. There was nothing she could do to stop Mother Brain. She calmly sighed and prepared herself for the end. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the large larval Metroid, far larger than any other Metroid of the larval stage, appeared and engulfed Mother Brain's head as she fired her Hyper Beam, saving Samus from the onslaught. The beam did nothing to the Metroid, who was merely feeding off of the energy. The Metroid clamped down on Mother Brain's head and began to drain Mother Brain of all of her energy. As Mother Brain discharged her Hyper Beam into the Metroid, her body glowed, just as it had during the firing of the Hyper Beam on Samus. The beam continued to discharge until its energy had been depleted. Still, the Metroid did not release Mother Brain. Mother Brain recoiled and staggered backwards as the Metroid continued to drain the organic supercomputer of its energy. Mother Brain, however, knew that there was nothing she could do. She could only wait and hope that the Metroid did not drain the entirety of her energy. Eventually, Mother Brain was the one who had to resign herself to her fate. It became harder and harder to move as more and more her energy was being drained from her. Eventually, she sat down and ceased her movement, the organic parts of her body becoming a deathly gray. The Metroid soon detached itself from Mother Brain, leaving the desiccated Mother Brain to sit. _

_With a few chirps, the Metroid floated over to Samus and grabbed hold of her. Instead of draining Samus of her remaining energy, though, she felt a wave of restoring energy wash over her. She checked her readouts and found that the Metroid hatchling was restoring her energy. Her Energy Tanks were being filled by the transferred energy with each passing second. However, Mother Brain was not finished yet._

_Sitting in the corner of the room, color began to return to the Space Pirate leader. Purple smoke emerged from Mother Brain's mouth and she rose again. However, the top part of her brain looked as if it had sustained burns, though it was merely a residual effect of having had her energy drained from her, a lasting reminder of the Metroid hatchling's attack. Mother Brain proceeded to stomp towards Samus and the baby Metroid and fired a volley of turquoise energy rings at the Metroid. Since the Metroid was focusing on restoring Samus's energy, and transferring its own energy to Samus in the process, its defenses were weakened and the energy balls were managing to inflict damage on the massive Metroid. With each volley of energy rings Mother Brain fired into the Metroid, the Metroid's outer membrane became more of a sickly yellowish green, and its interior nuclei became a dull purple, rather than the usual vibrant red of healthy Metroids._

_Eventually, the Metroid had replenished all of Samus's energy, fully rejuvenating her in the process as well. The Metroid, obviously showing signs of damage and injury, rose from Samus and reared back to attack Mother Brain once more. Samus knew, though, that its attack would be futile, cried, "No, wait!" But it was too late. The Metroid made its way towards Mother Brain as she fired one final volley of turquoise energy rings at the Metroid. Due to the damage the Metroid had sustained earlier, the energy rings were able to penetrate the Metroid's membrane and destroy its internal nuclei in one blast. The Metroid gave a short cry as its membrane was penetrated and it fell apart, collapsing onto Samus Aran, covering her suit with its DNA in the process._

_The Metroid's sacrifice was not in vain, though, for in addition to restoring Samus's energy, when Mother Brain had blown it apart in her last attack, its DNA landing on Samus's arm cannon granted Samus a new weapon, her own version of the Hyper Beam. Samus glared at Mother Brain and said with quiet anger, "Time to die, Mother." With that, Samus fired a beam of glowing orange energy far more powerful than any other weapon that she had access to. The beam struck Mother Brain in the head and caused her to recoil with the hit and issue a cry of pain and shock. Samus would have grinned if she had not been so angry at the loss of the Metroid Hatchling, who was the latest in the list of beings who had given their lives so that she might live. Mother Brain had taken so much from her, first she had betrayed the Chozo, forcing them to evacuate Zebes or die. Later, her surrogate father, Gray Voice, had been killed by Ridley when he had tried to take down Mother Brain. Mother Brain had also orchestrated several attacks against the Galactic Federation that resulted in thousands of deaths. Samus did not let up with her attacks. She continued to launch vicious Hyper Beam blasts at Mother Brain, each hit resulting in Mother Brain recoiling and crying out in pain. Mother Brain did her best to try to stop Samus, dropping bombs, firing energy rings, and firing lasers, but Samus's new Hyper Beam was too much for her. In the end, one last blast of Samus's Hyper Beam took down Mother Brain. The beam literally decapitated Mother Brain from her body. Mother Brain fell to the floor, her mouth hanging open and her eye wide in pain. Samus made certain that Mother Brain would never rise again by firing several more Hyper Beam pulses into the dead brain, reducing the brain to dust. Samus was about to give a cry in celebration when she heard an alarm sound and a voice cry over the speaker, which her suit translated as, "Time bomb set! Escape immediately!" Samus wasted no time blasting a path out of Tourian and fleeing back to the surface. As she began to run, the dream faded…_

Samus awakened to find herself in what looked to be the sickbay of a Federation Olympus-class battleship. She looked at her hands. She could not sense any lingering traces of the Metroid Baby or the power of the Hyper Beam, though she would not know whether or not the Hyper Beam was still in her arsenal until she activated her suit. She looked at herself and found that she was clad in standard hospital robes, and that she was no longer wearing her Zero Suit, a blue body suit that afforded her some basic defenses of her own even outside of her trademark armor. She sank back into the bed, the Metroid hatchling's sacrifice still fresh in her mind. Standing over her were two female nurses, with a young male doctor checking a monitor not too far away. "She's awake," one of the nurses said, turning to the doctor.

The doctor turned and saw that, indeed, Samus Aran had awakened. Samus tried to rise, but the nurses eased her back into the bed. "Not too quickly, Samus. You're out of the woods, but you're not back to full strength yet."

"Where am I?" Samus asked.

"You're in the sickbay of the _G.F.S. Olympus_, under the command of Admiral Castor Dane," the young doctor said, coming over to Samus.

Samus remembered the name from a mission more than a year ago. She had been hired by the Galactic Federation to investigate why the Space Pirates had stolen Aurora Unit 313 from the _G.F.S. Valhalla_ while they left other valuable components often stolen in Space Pirate raids when a Space Pirate invasion force had attacked Norion. It had been the beginning of the Phazon Crisis and Samus's last important mission before she was given the mission of exterminating the Metroid species on SR388.

Samus tried to remember how she had arrived at the _G.F.S. Olympus_ since it was supposed to be stationed at Norion. She thought back to the battle with Mother Brain in new Tourian on Zebes and how the Metroid hatchling had saved her, and granted her the Hyper Beam for use in killing Mother Brain. She remembered evacuating Zebes, saving the Etecoons and Dachora in the process, and flying away from the doomed planet. She remembered her suit deactivating when its energy had run low, possibly due to the Hyper Beam, but she did not know why she would have had to go to sickbay. The Metroid hatchling had healed her of any injuries sustained by Mother Brain's bombardment of Hyper Beams. "How did I get here?" she asked.

The doctor answered, "We received a automated distress signal from a ship leaving planet Zebes and we went to investigate since we were patrolling the space near Zebes, having detected Space Pirate activities, and detected the explosion of Zebes. We responded to the distress signal of your ship and when we arrived, we found you unconscious onboard your ship, with radioactive debris lodged into your ship's hull. We got you out and took your ship onboard. You had suffered a little radiation poisoning, far less than a normal human should have sustained given the length of time of your exposure, but we were able to heal you and there was no lasting damage. The thing that worried us more was the fact that your own life energy seemed to have been greatly depleted. It only recently rose to levels where you could survive without the need for life support. My theory is that the Hyper Beam not only drained power from your suit, but from _you_ as well. The suit must have cut out when it read that your own energy was getting too low. Of course, with radioactive debris from Zebes striking your ship's hull, and even managing to penetrate, you were also exposed to radiation. We still don't know how you survived so much radiation with no lasting damage."

Samus suspected that it may have had something to do with the Metroid Baby. She did not dwell on it, though. She was just happy to be alive. Just then, she heard a familiar voice that she had not heard in a long time, "Samus! You're awake!"

Samus rose with some effort as Kreatz burst onto the scene between the doctors and nurses. Kreatz was a young elf-like humanoid that stood about as tall as a human, with short black hair. To most people, he would have looked human save for his pointed ears, which were the hallmark of his race. He looked to be Samus's age and was wearing a blue shirt and black pants, with a gray trench coat. He, and his people, were also known for being hot-blooded. It had been quite a while since Samus had seen him, four years at least. He barged in front of the others and stood at the side of Samus's bed. Samus could see the two baton-like cylinders at his waist. These two batons extended multiple laser-whips in combat that were exceedingly deadly to unshielded opponents. Samus smiled at the sight of Kreatz, one of her few living friends. She looked behind him and found Commander Mauk standing in the corner of the room. Mauk was large and ape-like in appearance, save for his face, which more closely resembled a human's. He came from the world Jamoru, a world inside the Galactic Federation. He wore Federation Marine power armor, though he did not have their standard arm gun. Instead, he was equipped with two shoulder cannons and a large rifle-like gun, which he had slung over his shoulder. He was tall, muscular, and had dark hair that reached down to his shoulders and a beard. He was noticeably older than Samus and Kreatz. He gave a big grin at the sight of Samus sitting up. "It looks as if you're feeling better, Samus," he called over to her. He then walked over to Samus, who was slowly rising from the bed.

Samus smiled upon seeing Mauk as well. "I've felt better," she admitted. "But from what I've heard, I've been far worse." She then moved her legs over the sides of the bed and unsteadily got out of the bed. She stumbled a bit before regaining her balance. Both Kreatz and Mauk rushed over to Samus to assist her, but she waved them off, slowly steadying herself on her feet.

"Not too quickly Samus," one of the nurses said, coming over to help her. "You still haven't recovered fully from your mission to Zebes. I still think that you should take it easy for a few days before going back out."

Samus saw the wisdom in the nurse's advice. There was once a time when she would have ignored such advice, but she was older now, and far wiser. "I will," Samus assured the nurse, "but not in sickbay," she added. One thing Samus could not stand was being cooped up in sickbay when she felt well enough to move around and walk. She then felt some more basic needs come to her. "Is there anything to eat around here?" she asked the nurse. "I'm starving."

The nurse smiled. "That's not surprising considering you've been given I.V. fluids for your nutrients for the last month. Sure, there's the mess hall a couple decks above."

Samus began to walk over to the door when the doctor called over, "Wait, Ms. Aran. We can get something from the mess hall and bring it back down here for you."

Samus grimaced to herself, but kept a stoic external expression. "With respect, I feel well enough to walk. If need be, I could likely fight. I don't need to remain in sickbay."

The doctor and the nurses did not wish to argue the point, but they felt as if it was their duty to keep Samus from doing something foolish, so they were about to respond when Mauk spoke up instead, "I think that Samus is well enough to leave. But she should remain on ship for the time being. After all, the Admiral wants to see her when she's able and…" he then turned to Samus, who was still dressed in her hospital robes, "with all due respect Samus, you really were in critical condition for quite a while. You really should take it easy for a bit."

Samus's expression softened. Mauk had always been more of a voice of reason when she had served with him and Kreatz in the Galactic Federation Police, and then during their brief time in the Army. "Okay," she said. "But I'm still starving."

"The mess hall's waiting, guys; or rather guy and gal," Kreatz exclaimed. Both Samus and Mauk smiled at Kreatz's enthusiasm. The trio then proceeded to exit sickbay.

Before going to the mess hall, though, Mauk told Samus, "We took your clothes and other belongings to a guest room on Deck Five. We'll wait if you want to change or take a shower before going down to the mess hall."

"We will?" Kreatz asked, jokingly, which brought a smile out of Samus. He smiled when he saw Samus smile. He just hoped that she would not find out the bad news until later, hopefully from Admiral Dane. Both he and Mauk had been devastated to hear about Commander General Adam Malkovich's death. They both had a great amount of respect for the man, but they knew that his death would be hardest on Samus. Samus had practically viewed Adam as a father, especially after her surrogate Chozo father, Gray Voice, had died on Zebes when Mother Brain took over and the Space Pirates attacked. He hoped that spending time with them would cushion the blow for her.

Samus, meanwhile, turned and told them, "I think I will take that opportunity to change and shower. I'll meet you in the mess hall in thirty minutes." With that, Samus headed towards the turbolift that would take her to Deck Five and to her temporary quarters.

Meanwhile, in another part of the galaxy, Samus Aran's gunship hurtled through subspace in pursuit of General Cutter. Onboard, the bounty hunter, Samus Aran by all appearances, studied the data that had been downloaded to her power suit from the terminal in the storage bay in the Maryvale base. On it, she studied the data regarding Project Metroid Warriors. So far, she did not learn anything that she did not already know. It was the offshoot of a project that was developed to create a Special Forces unit based on the structure of the Space Pirates. In it, there was data for the Cyborg Zebesians, as the researchers had dubbed the cyborg Zebesian Space Pirates, Reos, Zoomers, and other Space Pirate creatures and weapons. She also saw the data regarding the seemingly unfreezable Metroids. As it turns out, the Metroids were not, in fact, unfreezable. However, they were highly resistant to freezing weapons, but enough shots from a freeze gun would be sufficient to freeze even these freeze-resistant Metroids. Samus figured as much, though. She knew that having a bioweapon with no weaknesses whatsoever would be devastating, especially if said weapon broke free of the controls placed on it. The researchers must have merely made it resistant to freezing so that it would be more useful, but kept at least a part of the weakness intact so that they could be stopped if they got out of control.

Samus then studied the project further and saw references to Project Hunter. She took a look at the information and saw a diagram of herself on the screen. On it, the screen read: _The Ultimate Weapon_. She then studied the data even closer and discovered that Project Metroid Warriors was actually the precursor to Project Hunter. She read more about the project and read that somewhere, these rogue elements of the Galactic Federation were planning on cloning bounty hunters, particularly Samus Aran, and using them against the enemies of the Galactic Federation. Samus gasped at this revelation. Never in her wildest imagination had she believed that the Galactic Federation, even rogue elements of it, would have ever tried to gain the services of bounty hunters by means of cloning. Still, it did make some sense. After all, most bounty hunters had access to special ships. Her own gunship was designed on Aliehs III, but she had performed extensive modifications on her own ship, beyond the cockpit window resembling her helmet. The weapons systems had also been extensively modified, and were strong enough to inflict damage to the shields of all but the strongest of capital ships. Her own shields had also been modified to be able to withstand a few shots from light capital ship weapons as well, allowing her to get past blockades. With the powers of various bounty hunters on the ground, the Federation would be able to sabotage planetary defensive systems and weaken the ground forces of the enemy in the process. Not only that, but the Federation could use the bounty hunters as Special Forces like they did during the Phazon Crisis.

A chime soon sounded in the cockpit and she checked her console. The blip of General Cutter's ship disappeared. The message on the console told her that the ship had emerged back into normal space. Samus immediately jumped back to normal space and her sensors picked up Cutter's ship once more approximately three million kilometers ahead, heading towards the planet of Jigrad, directly in front of the two ships. She did not adjust her course or change her speed, merely heading towards the same planet as Cutter. She hoped that his sensors would not be able to identify the ship's signature or shape. She doubted that, though, but she waited to see what Cutter did. Cutter pulled away from the grayish blue planet that he was headed towards and sent a transmission down to the surface. Samus picked up the transmission and overheard what was said, "This is Cutter to Ausia, I'm being followed by Samus Aran, relay the signal to General Sheppard and the others. Tell them to leave, now!"

Once the transmission had ended, Samus used her radio equipment to listen in on the transmissions of Ausia, Cutter's accomplice. She quickly picked up the transmissions to the other accomplices. She used her own equipment to jam the transmissions so that they could not go through. Samus then back traced the signal to Ausia's location. Samus grinned; it was coming from a small shack in the middle of a forest on the planet below. Samus wasted no time accelerating her ship towards the planet and entering the atmosphere. With any luck, she could hack into the computer and manage to download the locations of the transmissions that Ausia had tried to send to the other accomplices of Commander General Cutter. If nothing else, Samus would be able to get another bounty in the form of Ausia. With that, her ship entered the atmosphere of planet Jigrad.

Back on the _Olympus_, the Samus that had awakened from a month-long coma merely a half hour earlier emerged from the shower dressed in a towel and went to examine herself in the mirror. She saw her usual uniform, a short blue top and shorts that barely qualified as shorts lying on the bed. She also saw a new suit that resembled her Zero Suit, except for the fact that it was sleeveless and it was white in color, rather than blue. Either of these uniforms fit better underneath her suit than any of her other clothing, save for her original Zero Suit, which had been bombarded by radioactive particles and removed from her during her rescue. Chances were that it had been damaged beyond repair and was now useless. She studied herself in the mirror, half-expecting to see some radiation scars or other signs of injury. Given everything that she had been through on her last mission, however, she looked remarkably well. Her hair was its natural sandy blond color; her eyes were their clear blue with no signs of glaze or gloss. Her skin also showed no signs of radiation poisoning or having been drained of energy due to the Hyper Beam's effect. It also showed no signs of scarring from having been cut or penetrated by any debris that may have penetrated the hull of her ship. One thing that Samus did notice was that she was noticeably thinner than normal, but that was not unexpected given that she had had nothing but IV fluids pumped into her for a month. It was nothing a few good meals would not fix.

She quickly put on the uniform that she would wear for her dinner, a green long sleeved shirt and brown pants. Before she left, though, she decided to test one more thing. She quickly closed her eyes and a golden glow surrounded her body. After a second, her Power Suit materialized on her body and she was encased in her suit for the first time since she had awakened in her coma. She grimaced at the readouts on the screen. She had expected her beams to have been burned out by the Hyper Beam. She was less pleased at the fact that the Varia and Gravity Suits had also been burned out as well as her visor read, _System malfunction. Varia Suit destroyed. Gravity Suit Destroyed. Ice Beam non-functional. Wave Beam non-functional. Plasma Beam non-functional. Power Bomb Tanks destroyed. Speed Booster and Shinespark non-functional. Space Jump and Screw Attack non-functional._

_Strange_, Samus thought. _I know that I had the Gravity Suit, Speed Booster, Space Jump, and Screw Attack when I was escaping Zebes_. She shrugged as she checked to see what she did have. She still had her Morph Ball with Bombs and missile launcher with normal missiles and the ability to charge them into Super Missiles. So far, her missiles had been depleted, but that was of little consequence. Her ship had the ability to replenish her missile supply. She raised her fingers to her neck and touched a switch on her suit and deactivated her suit. Her suit dematerialized in a display of golden light and she stood with her civilian clothing on. She then proceeded to leave her quarters and make her way down to the mess hall and meet Kreatz and Mauk.

The dinner in the mess hall was a lot better than she had remembered military food being. She had ordered an extra large steak with a double order of mashed potatoes and a large diet soda, while Kreatz and Mauk had ordered exotic dishes from their own worlds. The cook had been very generous and easy going in accepting the exotic orders from Kreatz and Mauk. While they waited for their meals, Samus had asked Kreatz and Mauk about what had happened while she had been in her coma. She learned that the news of the destruction of Zebes was all over the news networks all across the Federation. There had been no known encounters with any Space Pirates in the last month. While there were still Federation starships investigating rumors, as well as bounty hunters helping out with the investigation, there was hope among the members of the Galactic Federation Council that the Space Pirate threat had finally been eradicated. Samus was less optimistic about the end of the Space Pirates. She had remembered that the Federation Council had said that the Space Pirate threat was over when she had destroyed the Space Pirate base on Zebes all those years ago. Instead, the Space Pirates had had research vessels in orbit, and they had evacuated Zebes, with the ships leaving half of their forces back on Zebes to rebuild the base there, with the others spreading throughout the galaxy so that the Federation would not be able to destroy them in one fell swoop. While almost all of the Space Pirates that had not been on Zebes had been corrupted by Phazon and served Dark Samus before her, and their, destruction, Samus was sure that there had been survivors of the Phazon Crisis, as well as survivors among those who had not been corrupted by Phazon. After all, Ridley had survived, and he seemed to have been disintegrated when she had defeated him after his corruption by Phazon.

Mauk then told Samus that most of the Galactic Federation fleet was now moving to the Kriken border. Despite the defeat of the Space Pirates, the Galactic Federation still had its enemies, the Kriken Empire being one of them. She could not fault the Federation for deciding to focus on a clear and present threat. The Kriken Empire was expanding and always sought planets for conquest. While it was not in a state of declared war with the Galactic Federation, there had been numerous disputes and border conflicts between the two galactic superpowers. Samus feared that it would not be long before there was a state of declared war between the two powers. And the thing was that the grunt troopers for the Kriken Empire, at least the Kriken Troopers, were superior to the Space Pirate Troopers in individual combat. They also used stealth technology more readily than other powers in the galaxy. On the ground, the Krikens generally held an advantage over their Federation counterparts. It was in space where the Federation had the advantage. In fact, the reason the _Olympus_ was still at Norion was because a Kriken patrol ship had been spotted near the planet. It had been driven off by two Griffin-class frigates protecting Norion, but the Federation doubted that two Griffin-class frigates would deter a more serious attack. The _Olympus_ remained behind in order to bolster the defenses of Norion since the Federation Council was concerned that Norion was a target of the Kriken Empire for expansion.

"And how are you two doing?" Samus asked.

Kreatz answered, "I'm fine, for now. I was sent here as an agent in space for the Galactic Federation Police. I'm going to be heading home for a two week vacation once this tour is over in a week."

"And I'm going to be getting some leave time in a week as well," Mauk added. "It looks like we'll be able to talk and reminisce about the old days. I hear an important Earth holiday is coming up, so this will be great.

Samus smiled. _Yes, it would_.

It was then that the meals of the three friends arrived. Samus and the others ate in silence. Seeing Kreatz and Mauk reminded Samus of her time in the Galactic Federation Police Force, and later the Army. When she had finished her steak, she had thought of her commanding officer, father figure, and confidant, Adam Malkovich. Even after leaving the Federation Army to become a bounty hunter, she and Adam had maintained contact and had remained close friends, but she had not talked to him in quite a while. "So, how's Adam?" Samus asked her two friends. "I heard he made Commander General shortly before I left for my mission to SR388."

Kreatz and Mauk both became silent and their expressions darkened before they looked downcast. Samus noted a hint of concern in their glances. "What is it?" she asked, suddenly worried about why they were so quiet.

Her two friends then frowned and looked down at the ground gloomily. "What happened to Adam?" Samus asked more forcefully.

"Samus," Mauk eventually answered after a few moments of silence, "Adam is dead."

The statement struck Samus like a wrecking ball. Her eyes went wide in shock and sadness and her mouth hung open. "Dead?" she barely gasped. She then sat back in her chair. Moisture gathered in her eyes, but the tears did not escape. After taking a few deep breaths, she then composed herself a bit. "When? How?"

"A week ago, Kreatz answered for Mauk. "We don't know much. All we've heard so far is that Adam died during an incident that the Federation Council has taken to calling the _Bottle Ship_ Incident. He died a hero."

"The _Bottle Ship_?" Samus inquired.

"A station/starship that was built inside a dust cloud on the fringes of Federation space," Mauk answered. "From what we heard, it was a research facility commissioned by the Galactic Federation but rogue elements used it to research and develop bioweapons. Some super bioweapon was developed on that ship and Adam sacrificed himself to destroy that super bioweapon and any other copies of that weapon that existed."

_Just like Adam_, Samus thought, blinking back tears. _He was always one to put the mission first_. She then reminisced to the first time that she had met Adam Malkovich. She had been accepted into the Galactic Federation Army and he was inspecting the new recruits. He had inspected her and she had done her best to make a good first impression on him. As time went on, she had taken to questioning some of his orders at times, usually in private, though. Surprisingly, she had actually been right to do so on one occasion, when no one else had done so. After that incident, he had always taken to asking at the end of a briefing, "Any objections lady?" Had it come from anyone else, it would have sounded condescending, but from Adam, it had actually been respectful. It was a sign of the trust shared by the two of them. Even after she had become a bounty hunter, she had maintained contact with Adam and both of them had been on good terms with each other. She suspected that he was one of the reasons why she had gotten such good offers from the Galactic Federation without having done some of the dirtier jobs that bounty hunters were often known for.

Samus soon looked up and saw a Galactic Federation Marine coming towards the table. He did not have his weapon drawn or aimed at the group. He appeared to be delivering a message. Samus wondered if he was coming to tell her what she had just learned from Kreatz and Mauk. When the Marine arrived, he stood at attention and said, "Miss Aran, Admiral Dane requests your presence in his ready room at your earliest convenience. He has some things that he needs to tell you."

"Okay," Samus responded quietly, the shock and pain of Adam's death still evident. Still, she would not let her grief cause her to break down. "Tell him I'll be up soon."

"Understood," the Marine responded, with a nod. He then turned and left the three friends alone.

Samus then turned to her friends and said in a melancholy tone, "I should not keep the Admiral waiting. I thank you for the time we've been able to spend together here. Thank you for telling me about Adam's death, and I'm sorry for your loss…for our loss." Samus then proceeded to rise and she left the mess hall.

Kreatz and Mauk watched as Samus walked out of the mess hall. Once she had left the mess hall, Kreatz commented, "She took that better than I expected her to."

Mauk gave his friend a melancholy look. "I'm not so sure about that," he responded.

"She didn't cry over his death," Kreatz replied to Mauk. "She didn't rant or rave. She also didn't shut down completely, either."

"She's not known for crying," Mauk told him. "She has almost always kept her emotions close to her chest. I'm not so sure it's all that healthy for a human to do so."

"I'm not sure I would ever be able to," Kreatz remarked. "I just hope that it doesn't boil over sometime."

"I hope so, too," Mauk agreed.

Meanwhile, Samus was on her way to see Admiral Dane in his ready room. Samus already knew the layout of the ship and made the long journey through the ship to the Admiral's ready room. She made her way up the command lift to the flag bridge of the ship. Upon stepping onto the bridge of the _Olympus_, Samus took the time to gaze out the window in front of her. On the other side of the window was the planet Norion. She remembered the scene during the attack on Norion by the Space Pirates, and the image of starships firing on each other. The scene in front of her was much more serene. There were two Griffin-class frigates orbiting Norion that Samus saw. She examined the bridge and saw numerous officers working at their stations. The bridge was abuzz with chatter coming from the officers receiving reports from other parts of the ship. She made her way up the stairs to the level above and made her way back to Admiral Dane's ready room. As she approached, two Federation Marine guards stood in front of the door. They fell into position in front of the door and said, "State your identification and authorization code." The Marines did not recognize Samus outside of her armor and Zero Suit.

"Samus Aran, authorization code one-three-five-seven-nine-four."

After a few seconds, the Marine said, "Authorization code accepted, you may enter."

Samus then made their way past the guards and the doors slid open. As she entered the room, the doors slid shut. Admiral Dane was sitting at his desk, looking over reports transcribed on data pads. Samus approached slowly, so as to not distract the Admiral. "You wished to see me, Admiral?"

Admiral Dane looked up from his reports at the sound of Samus's voice. "Ah, Samus," he said, putting down his pad. "You came sooner than I expected."

"Why did you need to see me sir?" Samus asked in a curt, but respectful, manner.

"Did Kreatz and Mauk tell you of the events of the last month since you've been in your coma?"

"Some," Samus said wistfully. "I know that there have been no reports of Space Pirate activity in the last month. I also know that General Adam Malkovich died," she added quietly.

Admiral Dane gave a downcast look. "I'm sorry for your loss, Samus," he said sincerely. "He was a good man, and an even better soldier. I know you two were close, even after you left the Federation Army."

"Yes. Thank you for your concern, Admiral. May I ask how Adam died?"

"That's one of the reasons why I asked you here. Reports have been sketchy at best, even for a flag officer like me. However, I did manage to find out that he died in order to destroy a group of unfreezable Metroids that were engineered and developed onboard a space facility called the _Bottle Ship_. He did so by detaching a section of the ship and causing it to detonate."

"Hold on," Samus interrupted. "Unfreezable Metroids?"

"That's what the report said," Admiral Dane replied. His tone indicated that he could scarcely believe what came from the report. Their crippling weakness to cold was one of the only ways that a Metroid could be destroyed. Other than a combination of the Ice Beam and five missiles or a Super Missile, only Power Bombs were known to have had the ability to destroy a Metroid.

"One question," Samus began. "If the Metroids were unfreezable, then is there a chance that they may have been able to survive the explosion and survive in outer space? During the Phazon Crisis, I encountered Metroids that were living in space, though that was likely due to Phazon mutation."

"That's what concerns us," Admiral Dane answered. "If a ship came across any of these unfreezable Metroids, they may try to contain them, and find out that their containment protocols are not up to the task. After all, almost all other attempts to contain Metroids have failed for a variety of reasons."

Samus nodded. She had been the reason why some Space Pirate protocols failed, with predictable results. "Do you wish for me to investigate this?"

"That's up to you Samus," the Admiral answered kindly. "I can scarcely imagine the effect of Commander General Malkovich's death is having on you, and with the funeral having been two days ago, I can see why you might want to grieve in private."

"I'll do it," Samus told him.

"You'll take the mission?" Admiral Dane asked, almost in disbelief.

"Yes," came Samus's response. "What were the coordinates of the _Bottle Ship_ where this sector detached itself from the rest of the ship?"

"It was in a dust cloud in a remote region of space," Dane replied hesitantly. He felt uneasy about having Samus accept this mission as quickly as she had. "I'll have the information sent to your ship's navigational computer." The Admiral then paused before continuing. "Samus, there is something else that you should know. Your gunship sustained extensive damage during the escape from Zebes. Its hull was pelted with radioactive fragments of the planet. Some of these fragments were lodged into your ship's hull. Since we did not have the materials to repair the starship, a representative of the Galactic Federation Council had the ship taken to Aliehs III for repairs. However, Aliehs III reported that the ship had since been repaired, but it was taken by someone using your name and access codes. I only recently received this bit of information myself, since the chief engineer on Aliehs III said that there was something strange about the requisitioning of the ship."

"You still have my other gunship here, right?" Samus asked.

Admiral Dane nodded. "It's being prepped for launch now. I also heard that most of your suit's systems were burned out by the use of the Hyper Beam and its residual effects." _How had he learned that_? Samus wondered. She had just recently learned of the extent of her suit's damage and what was lost just before going down to meet Kreatz and Mauk in the mess hall. The Admiral soon continued, "As such, I have sent down a copy of new Federation technology for our Freeze Guns to your ship. These product pulses of freezing energy equal to, if not even greater than, your own Ice Beam."

"Thank you, Admiral," Samus answered. She then turned and proceeded to leave. Once she had left, Admiral Dane went back to his desk and went over to his comm unit. "Major Hodgkins, send for Officer Kreatz and Commander Mauk. I need to see them at once. Tell them it's urgent."

Samus retired to her temporary quarters to quickly change into a white sleeveless suit similar to the workout clothes that she wore as a teenager on Zebes, but functioned much like her Zero Suit. It also had glowing red markings on the back, similar to her Zero Suit's glowing pink markings on its back and hands. Since she did not have her Zero Suit, these were the best clothing to wear underneath her armor. She also put on a cloak so she would be seen as decent while walking throughout the ship on the way to her gunship. She then packed her belongings and proceeded to make her way down to the launch bay where her Hunter-class Gunship was housed.

After a few minutes, she arrived in the hangar bay where her gunship was housed. Upon entering the bay, she looked over her gunship before boarding. This gunship had a cockpit that resembled her suit's helmet and two wings with forward jutting prows that opened to reveal missile launchers. This gunship was much more heavily armed than her previous gunship and also had better defensive shielding than her other gunship. However, this gunship, which was designed by Samus, herself, and combined both Chozo and Galactic Federation technology, was far more expensive than her other gunships. It also cost more to maintain due to the weaponry and defenses, which increased the fuel consumption. So far, she had only used it during the Phazon Crisis, but it had proved its worth during the crisis.

Samus proceeded to examine her gunship from stem to stern. So far, it was in pristine condition. When she was finished the external inspection, she pushed a button on the side of the hull and a hatch from the belly of the ship extended to the ground. She stood on the hatch and let it take her onboard the gunship. Once onboard, she examined everything inside the gunship to ensure that it was in working order. So far, everything was fine. She then removed her cloak and activated her Power Suit. Her suit materialized over her body and the transformation was finished in three seconds. Samus then stood in the middle of a pad at the center of the ship and a field of energy surrounded her. Samus noticed on her visor that her missile count now read two hundred and thirty missiles; the exact number that she had on Zebes after finding all of the Missile Tanks spread throughout the base. She smiled. Now, she was fully armed. She also went over to her cockpit chair and found an ice blue badge-like object. Samus figured that this was the Ice Beam upgrade that Admiral Dane had told her about. She quickly scanned it using her suit's Scan Visor and found that it, indeed, was the case. She grabbed the object and plugged it into her arm cannon. Immediately, an icy glow surrounded her cannon and her HUD read, _Ice Beam acquired. Charge to produce powerful blasts of freezing energy to freeze strong enemies, and even kill weak enemies_.

Once she was finished, she deactivated her suit and activated her ship. She sat in her seat near the piloting console and activated her communications array. She then spoke into the radio, "This is Samus Aran requesting clearance for departure."

"This is _Olympus_ control, you're all clear Samus. Good luck out there."

"Thanks control," Samus replied right before she shut off the radio. After shutting off the radio, she began the liftoff sequence. The two landing struts on her ship retracted and her gunship lifted itself off of the ground. The force field that covered the hangar bay door deactivated as the doors retracted. After the doors were opened, Samus piloted her ship out of the hangar of the _G.F.S. Olympus_ and then studied the information in the navigational computer.

Admiral Castor Dane looked out from the bridge of his ship as Samus passed by the bridge of the ship. Dane's executive officer stood next to him and quietly told him, "Sir, they've managed to get onboard her ship before she arrived."

"Good," Dane replied. He then quietly whispered, "Don't let her do anything foolish you two."

Once her ship was away, he turned to the helmsman, a young woman with black hair in her mid-twenties and commanded, "Lieutenant Hastings, bring us about and assume a defensive orbit over Norion."

"Aye sir," the Lieutenant answered.

Dane looked out at Samus's ship once more and whispered, "Good luck, Samus."

Meanwhile, Samus had been studying the navigational information on her computer. It was the last known position of the _Bottle Ship_ before it's jump towards Galactic Federation HQ. Samus figured that that was the best place to begin her search for the jettisoned section of the ship. Hopefully, the section had detonated, hopefully destroying the Metroids onboard. She prepared her missiles and pulse cannons for battle, though. If the Metroids were not destroyed, she would have to finish the job. With that in mind, Samus plugged in the last known coordinates of the _Bottle Ship_ and with a push of a button, jumped into warp.

In another sector of space, onboard the Space Pirate Frigate _Chimera_, the Space Pirate doctors and nurses watched from beyond a healing cell while their leader, Ridley, rose to his feet. Ridley spread his wings and emitted an ear-piercing roar. The Space Pirates present covered their ears as Ridley roared. Once his roar was over, Ridley folded his wings once more and said, "Yeah, that felt good."

"Don't overdo it, Lord Ridley," the head Space Pirate doctor advised. "You're still recovering from the transplant."

"I feel great," Ridley countered, spreading his wings. "You guys just earned yourselves a raise in both salary and rations, along with a huge bonus." Ridley then looked around and asked, "Alright now, what have we got to eat around here? I'm starving!"

The Space Pirates gave a chuckle. "We've got a fine menu around, my lord. We just captured a freighter full of Afloraltite and some containers of antimatter. Along with the valuable cargo, we've got prisoners. There are also, of course, the normal Militiamen and other prisoners and slaves as well. For freshly slaughtered food, we have some Earth pork and Urtragian Shriekbats and Urtragian Boars, along with the freshly killed Space Pirate Militiamen that died in the taking of the freighter."

"I want some fresh meat!" Ridley proclaimed. "Get me some of those prisoners and dump them in here, now!"

"With pleasure, my lord," the Space Pirate doctor grinned. A group of Space Pirate troopers then shoved a group of prisoners of all ages and species into Ridley's cell. Ridley then spread his wings and proceeded to tear into the prisoners. The cries of the dying and those being eaten was music to the Space Pirates' ears. While Ridley was feasting and having fun with the other prisoners doomed to die, a Space Pirate Commando entered the room and called, "Lord Ridley, we have found a Federation planet in a system less than two light years away. Early scouts indicate there's an archaeological dig on the planet. There have also been reports on the finding of Chozo artifacts down there, and maybe even some technology. Should we go and attack?"

Ridley looked up from his feasting and asked, through gulps, "What are the defenses around the planet?"

"Oh, that's the beauty of it, my lord," a second Commando answered eagerly, rushing into the room. "There are only two transports and two missile silos down on the planet, each of the missile silos only launch surface-to-air anti-fighter and anti-light transport missiles. This planet has your name written all over it!"

"Then why are we still in normal space? Get us to that planet! I need some fresher meat!"

"We're on it, my lord!" the Space Pirate Commandos replied in unison. They then proceeded to leave the cell and make their way to the bridge to relay and carry out Ridley's orders. This was perfect. If this planet had Chozo technology on it, they could set up a base that could allow them to replenish their forces and help them become a power in the galaxy once more. "Glory to the Space Pirates!" the Commandos yelled.

"Death to the Hunter," Ridley quietly echoed from his cell as he burst out of his cell and spread his wings, roaring in the process. He knew that the chances of encountering Samus Aran were small, but he hoped against hope that she would make an appearance on this planet. Then he could finally get his revenge for his past five defeats at her hands. And the one battle that was not a defeat was not a victory either since he nearly fumbled the Metroid hatchling and decided to flee rather than continue fighting Samus.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Bounty hunter Samus Aran left her ship and proceeded into the house of Ausia on the planet Jigrad. Her trip through the atmosphere had been uncontested. She was surprised that she had been allowed to get to Councilman Ausia's house uncontested. Samus had landed just outside his house and broken down the door. She walked up the stairs in Ausia's house and went into the study. Sitting at a computer was a man with graying hair that looked to be in his early to mid fifties. "Kenneth Ausia?" Samus Aran called out to the man.

"Yes," the man said calmly. "I see you have arrived, bounty hunter Samus. I must say you arrived sooner than expected, but it is of no matter."

"Why is that?" Samus asked with a smirk.

"Because I have warned everyone to get out of their dens," Ausia replied. "You and the Federation won't be able to track them down. Besides, I'm a member of the Galactic Federation Council. You can't do anything to me without causing a legal uproar, and I'll never talk."

Samus then grinned. "Don't be too sure about that," she replied.

It was then that Kenneth Ausia tried to draw his pistol and shoot Samus. Samus, however, was faster on the draw and proceeded to shoot Ausia's pistol out of his hand. The pistol went flying out of his hand and landed several meters away from him. Samus then knocked the man unconscious with a single punch. As the man hit the floor and remained motionless, Samus went over to Kenneth's computer and sat. She activated the computer and began a trace on the last transmission. She found that the transmission was sent to several planets from Jamoru to Earth, to Daiban, even. Not only that, but further diving into the records indicated where the group was meeting. She found that it was a space station at the edge of Federation space. It was a large research station where it appeared as if there was more research going on. Perhaps this was the origin of Project Hunter. Whatever it was, it was where the rest of the corrupt elements of the Galactic Federation were gathering. For a moment, Samus thought that it was foolish for the group to be assembling all in one location, but it was remote and away from many planets, so what better place to hide? Samus went to the radio and contacted Daiban.

"Daiban, patch me through to Vice-Chairman Cyrus. I need to talk to him."

"Understood," a young male voice answered at the other end of the channel. "Patching you through now."

Samus waited for a few seconds until she heard Cyrus's voice crackle through. "Samus, is that you? My scanners indicate your signal is coming from Jigrad."

"Yes, Vice Chairman, sir. I'm using Kenneth Ausia's computer to contact you since its encryption protocols are high level and this information needs to be given to you now. I know where the rest of the ring is."

"Ring?" Cyrus asked.

"The ring of corrupt Galactic Federation officials in the military and government," Samus answered. "I've learned that they're going to be meeting on a space station called," she checked the computer for its identification, "Research Facility Seven-Seven-Seven."

Samus could imagine Cyrus's grin as he responded, "Thank you for this information. We'll take care of this now." He gave a pause before adding, "Feel free to assist us when you have the time."

"I most certainly will," Samus responded.

She then cut the transmission and shut down the radio. After she had finished, she made her way back to the ship. She did not want to miss the apprehending of the rest of the ring. Just to make sure that Ausia did not escape, she picked him up and dragged him back to her ship where she threw him into a holding cage. When this was over, she would finally be able to finish what Adam started and destroy all of the bioweapons that may have already been produced.

Meanwhile, the Space Pirates of the Frigate _Chimera_, under the command of the newly resurrected Ridley, were already launching their attack on the Federation archaeological dig site on planet Z-1A. So far, resistance had been minimal, as the initial scouts had indicated. The two transports that had come up to challenge the frigate were old Achilles-class transports, which had already been replaced with both the Aries and Anhur-class transports. The _Chimera_ had exited warp at over two thousand kilometers away from the transports and had destroyed them both in the opening volley of fire. Blue pulses and beams erupted from the weapons ports onboard the _Chimera_ and had obliterated the first transport with its opening volley. The other transport had made a micro-jump to the frigate, but its weapons were insufficient to penetrate the shields of the frigate, the scarlet energy pulses splashing harmlessly against the _Chimera's_ shields. Another volley later, the second transport was annihilated.

The Space Pirates, themselves, had already launched their own fighters and troop transports into the atmosphere, with Ridley flying out in front of them, leading the way. He soon noticed a flight of two Stiletto-class fighters approaching. This was not in the initial scouting report. Still, Ridley was not concerned. After all, his forces did have numerical superiority. Two fighters was woefully insufficient to deal with his assault force. The Stilettos noticed the Space Pirate fighters approaching before the Space Pirates saw them. A duo of Space Pirate fighters that had overtaken Ridley in leading the charge were the first casualties of the invasion. Missiles unleashed by the Stilettos impacted the bows of the needle-like Space Pirate fighters and detonated, shattering the fighters. Ridley and the other fighters and Assault Transports, however, made short work of the two Stilettos, with the Stilettos only managing to destroy one Assault Transport and a subsequent tadpole-shaped Pirate fighter before being destroyed by Ridley and the other fighters.

Once the fighters were destroyed, the Space Pirate forces entered the atmosphere and began zeroing in on the surface based anti-aircraft defenses. Several waves of missiles streaked their way towards the Space Pirate forces, only for most of them to be shot down by Ridley's plasma breath. A few missiles, however, managed to get through and score some hits on a mantis-shaped Space Pirate heavy assault fighter. The shielded fighter could only take two missiles at most before going down. However, soon, the missiles were expended and Ridley made certain that the silos would never launch any more missiles at his forces with a stream of his plasma breath. Fire rained into the silos and melted the walls. Any missiles that had been inside the silos were incinerated by his attack and detonated, destroying not only the silo but the surrounding area as well. Now, all that was left was to deal with whatever paltry security forces the archeological dig had. Ridley grinned as he descended with the rest of his Space Pirate force. So far, he had lost four fighters and an Assault Transport. For a planet with such paltry defenses, the cost had been unusually high. However, he would get his revenge against the Federation scum soon enough. With their aerial defenses down, the frigate in orbit could launch the rest of its troop complement. Once the troops were down on the ground, they could begin the invasion in earnest. "Kill as much as you want," he called to his forces. "Have fun!" He knew he would.

Meanwhile, the Samus Aran that had just departed the _G.F.S. Olympus_, or "Prime" Samus, sat back in her chair as her ship hurtled through subspace. As she sat back in her chair, one of the floor panels behind her chair moved up an inch. Beneath the floor, Kreatz peered out from underneath the panel and caught sight of Samus lounging in her chair. His face split into a grin at the sight of Samus, who was clad in her white, sleeveless Zero Suit-like suit. His mouth was agape at her beauty and he was instantly smitten. Mauk looked at him disapprovingly. "Kreatz, our orders were to keep an eye on Samus," he whispered to his younger companion.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Kreatz whispered back in annoyance.

Kreatz then refocused his gaze upon Samus, who had shifted her position so she was no longer visible to Kreatz. He leaned forward a bit to try to get a better angle of Samus, which caused the panel to shift. Samus could hear the faint grind of the floor panel's movement, as well as the whispering of the two stowaways beneath the floor and gave a light-hearted smile, for she already knew the identity of her two stowaways. She sat up in her chair and called back, "You can come out now. I know you're there."

The floor panel soon slid back the rest of the way and Kreatz and Mauk both poked their heads out. "You go talk to her," Kreatz whispered to Mauk.

"No, _you_ go," Mauk retorted. "You were the one who gave us away."

"Actually, it was my internal sensors and knowledge of the ship," Samus answered, standing above them, now clad in her Power Suit, prompting a frown from Kreatz. "Tell me, did Admiral Dane order you to come, or did you do this on your own?"

"Both," Mauk answered honestly. "Admiral Dane ordered us to keep an eye on you, but we were also concerned about you, especially given that you recently found out about Commander General Malkovich's death. He's also concerned about you taking a mission so soon after waking up from a coma," he added.

"Yeah, you're one of us," Kreatz interjected. "You may be a bounty hunter now, but you'll always be our friend. And we don't let our friends do stupid things like go on missions just after awakening from a coma."

"Guys, Admiral Dane offered me this mission," Samus told them calmly.

"Yeah, and he did so in a way that was a tacit request for you to _not_ take the mission," Kreatz retorted. "He said that you could take the mission _if you wanted to_. Samus, you're not in the Galactic Federation Military or Police Force. He can't force you to go on any mission you don't want to. Wasn't that once of the reasons you left in the first place?"

_Yes and no_, Samus thought. But she left the thought unspoken. She then answered Kreatz, "I know that I don't have to take this mission. But I feel as if I _need_ to. I am the only one who ever had success in dealing with Metroids. If there are still Metroids out there, they will have to be dealt with." Samus paused before adding, "Besides, I'm in my combat gunship. If anything short of a capital ship has the firepower to take out a Metroid, this ship does. I don't plan on getting out of my ship to face unfreezable Metroids," she assured them.

"Good," Kreatz and Mauk answered. "We just want to make sure you're alright."

Samus then went over and hugged them. "Thank you for your concern. I'm fine, though." Samus wondered if they could tell that she was only partially correct in her own assessment of herself. She felt fine physically, but the death of Adam was still heavy on her mind, as was the death of the Metroid hatchling. The hatchling had imprinted itself on her as its mother. The entire circumstances upon her meeting with the Metroid hatchling, along with the similarity between that meeting and her own meeting with Ridley when she was three years old on K-2L, deeply resonated with her. It was the first time she had ever had second thoughts about a mission given to her by the Galactic Federation. Oh she knew the threats that the Metroids posed, especially in the hands of the Space Pirates or other malevolent forces. At the time, given the information both she and the Federation had, their extermination was the right decision. But given the new information she had gathered by getting to see the behavior of the Metroid hatchling and its willingness to save her when she fought Mother Brain made her doubt that the Metroids were not intelligent. There was even the possibility that they were either sentient or at least semi-sentient. She had never thought about the effects of the Metroids' extermination until she had awakened. She also was concerned due to the fact that she had almost done to the Metroid hatchling what Ridley had attempted to do to her. For a split second, she began to worry that when all was said and done, she was little better than Ridley. It was not an easy prospect for her to deal with; which made it all the better that she had friends to comfort and support her. And she vowed to be there for them in their times of need. She clenched her fingers into a fist, a sign of renewing that silent vow to her friends. This did not go unnoticed by the others.

"What is it?" Mauk asked, noticing that Samus had been standing there before forming a fist.

His question startled her. "Nothing," Samus replied, "Just remembering the old days," she said wistfully. She then turned and headed back to the pilot's station. Kreatz and Mauk took two other chairs that were situated behind Samus's pilot seat.

For the next half hour, they rode in silence, the others leaving Samus alone with her thoughts. Samus had done nothing but study the navigational data on the computer and read a variety of reports. Kreatz and Mauk wondered if they were job offers or merely reports about potential Space Pirate activity. While some on the Federation Council had said that the Space Pirate threat was a distant memory, others were not so sure. Many in the military doubted that the Space Pirates were finished. Samus, herself, hoped against hope that they were done for, but she, too, doubted that the galaxy had heard the last of the Space Pirates. She only hoped that without Ridley or Mother Brain leading them that their threat would be greatly diminished.

After a half hour of soaring through warp in silence, a chime blared from the computer. On the computer, a transmission came in. The words, _Baby's Cry_, appeared on the monitor. It was a common distress signal used by the Galactic Federation, and its sole intent was to attract as much attention as possible. Kreatz and Mauk leaned forward and saw the incoming signal flash up on the screen. "A Baby's Cry?" Kreatz wondered aloud. "I haven't heard a signal like that in a long time."

"That's because there haven't been any problems like that in quite a while, even during the Phazon Crisis," Mauk answered.

"I wonder what the trouble is?" the elf-like young man asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's bad if they're using an unencrypted signal like this. Whoever it is doesn't care who else comes down to join the party."

While Kreatz and Mauk had been talking to each other about the signal, Samus was already tracing the signal back to its origin. The trace quickly zeroed in on its origin, a planet in the far reaches of the Galactic Federation known as Z-1A. She quickly brought up all of the relevant information on Z-1A onto her screen. According to her data, which was likely a month out of date, Colony Z-1A was a planet on the fringes of Federation space, sharing a border close to the Kriken Empire as well as being close to another power known as the Lylat System. There had been some trouble in the Lylat System a decade ago when one of Corneria's most prominent scientists, Andross, had gone rogue and built up an army for conquering the Lylat System. After his defeat, Corneria was the main power in Lylat, and so far, its base of power had not extended beyond the Lylat System. However, after the more recent Aparoid and Anglar invasions, Corneria had made contact with the Galactic Federation. The two powers had signed a non-aggression pact and were well on their way to becoming allies.

As for Z-1A, it was a planet that was scheduled to become a frontier world and, hopefully, a full-blown colony world that would support a large population, given the amount of animals and life on the planet. However, it seemed as if the plans for developing the planet and bringing in settlers had been put on hold when Chozo artifacts were found on the surface of the planet. The Federation Research Team was then brought in and an archeological dig was now underway. _Chozo artifacts_? Samus thought. If the distress signal was a Baby's Cry, then that meant that whoever was attacking was likely after any potential Chozo technology that had been left behind before they left.

Samus then plotted a new course, taking time to see just how long it would take for her to reach Z-1A. She then turned back to her companions and informed them, "Guys, we're taking a detour to planet Z-1A. It is the source of the Baby's Cry distress signal. More importantly, the data in my computer indicates that there may be Chozo artifacts on the surface."

"Then that means that they're likely under attack," Kreatz said, his excitement rising.

Samus nodded. "Ready yourselves. We're likely going to be entering a battle down there."

"Assuming there's anyone left to save," Mauk added in a quiet and somber tone.

Samus lowered her head and uttered a silent prayer that there were still people left to save as well. She then took her ship on the new heading. Her sensors indicated that it would take them about a half hour to reach the planet. She and the others prayed that the people on that planet would be able to hold out that long.

Meanwhile, over Daiban, the gunship of the other Samus Aran emerged back into normal space and after giving the correct authorization codes, was allowed to enter the atmosphere. She followed the usual path back to Galactic Federation Headquarters and landed on a pad outside of the domed building. She then stepped out of her gunship, now clad in her Zero Suit, pulling a handcuffed Kenneth Ausia behind her. She made her way across the railed walkway and into the building.

Once inside the building, she continued to pull her prisoner as she headed over to a Galactic Federation Police desk. She quickly recognized the man sitting behind the desk as the new Chief of Federation Police, Chief Charon, an old man with gray hair wearing a white lab coat over his Galactic Federation Police Chief uniform. Samus remembered the rumors that Charon was promoted to Police Chief by Cyrus, rather than Elric, and that some had said that Charon had never served in any police force at all before his sudden promotion. It had created quite the controversy on Earth, though Elric had not opposed his promotion when it was put before him. So far, Charon appeared to be doing a pretty good job as Police Chief. Upon looking up from his reports and seeing Samus with Kenneth Ausia, he gave a chuckle and said, "Ah, Samus Aran is it? I see you have brought us a present. Who might this be?" he asked, examining Kenneth Ausia, who appeared to recognize the man. Kenneth gave a small grin.

"This is Kenneth Ausia," Samus answered. "He received a transmission from Commander General Cutter and alerted Cutter's other accomplices to leave their hideouts immediately."

"Good to know," Charon replied with a laugh. "Well, I'd better not keep the Chairman and Vice-Chairman waiting. We'll soon find out exactly where his accomplices are headed."

"I think I may be able to help you with that," Samus volunteered. Ausia looked almost distraught at what Samus was about to say. "I already told him that they were going to be meeting on _Research Facility Seven-Seven-Seven_."

Charon's lips twisted into a cunning smile. "Interesting," he began, "I'll have to let Elric and Cyrus know about this." He then took hold of Kenneth Ausia and pulled him along as he went towards the main Council chamber. Before leaving, though, he left a large brick of what looked to be gold, but was a material known as Unobtanium Gold, a substance that was incredibly rare, and beautiful, and had monetary value that was far greater than anything else. The brick, which weighed a few pounds at the least, was worth more than a hundred thousand gold credits. "Thank you, Charon," Samus said as the Police Chief took Ausia from Samus and led him away.

Samus turned and was about to go to her temporary quarters so she could rest before Elric and Cyrus told her what her next mission would be when she heard a deep, familiar voice ring out behind her. "Hey there, Princess. Fancy meetin' you here so soon again."

Samus immediately knew that the voice belonged to Anthony Higgs, the sole survivor of Platoon 07. He was a tall, muscled, almost bald, black man who dwarfed even Samus, who stood at almost six feet, herself. He was dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt with a green camouflaged vest and brown pants. "Anthony!" she said with joyful surprise as she rushed over and hugged him. After a few seconds, she disengaged herself from him and asked, "What brings you here?"

"Oh, you know. The job."

"Have they already put you on a new platoon?" Samus asked.

"Not really," Anthony replied with a shrug. "I've been promoted to Platoon Leader now, and I'm in charge of the new Platoon 07. I've also been promoted to Captain, but so far, I'm technically still only in command of Platoon 07. We're back to bein' a normal-sized platoon now with fifty-six men, not countin' me, but we're bein' called the elite of the elite. I hear that we're about to be goin' on some special mission that's a follow-up to the _Bottle Ship_ Incident."

"I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest," Samus told him.

The two of them then went to a bar not too far away where they sat down and talked about the recent events while ordering something to eat and drink. Samus told Anthony about how she had almost managed to catch Commander General Cutter, but that he had managed to escape, but by doing so, he had allowed her to track him and eventually his slip up, as well as Kenneth Ausia's, the person that she had been escorting to Charon, had allowed her to track them down a research station in the far reaches of space. "It's ironic," Samus concluded. "My initial failure allows for much greater gains."

"Yeah," Anthony agreed. "And this Ausia guy most certainly did screw up. So did Cutter. I wonder what they'll think when they realize that their meeting's been compromised." Anthony then gave a hearty laugh.

"I don't know," Samus laughed along with him. "I just hope we can get them all without any more casualties," she said quietly. "Too many people have already died because of what happened onboard the _Bottle Ship_." Samus then gave a sigh, which was echoed by Anthony. They had both lost friends during the _Bottle Ship_ Incident. Not to mention that one of Platoon 07 was an assassin that had been sent to eliminate any and all witnesses to what the rogue elements of the Galactic Federation were doing onboard the _Bottle Ship_. To this day, Samus did not know for certain whom the assassin, or "Deleter" as she called him, was. After studying all of the evidence, though, she suspected that it had been James Pierce, but she still had no real evidence of that. It did not matter, though, since James Pierce had been one of the casualties onboard the _Bottle Ship_. Samus then changed the subject of the conversation, "So, when are you shipping out with the rest of the re-formed Platoon 07?"

"As soon as I get orders," Anthony replied.

Samus and Anthony continued to eat and talk about the past, particularly her time in the Galactic Federation Army, when Colonel Mansfield approached the table flanked by two Army troopers. Colonel Mansfield, however, no longer bore the rank insignia cross of a Colonel, but the star of a General. "Captain Higgs, may I speak with you for a moment, in private?"

Anthony looked at Samus, indicating that she should let the General talk to him. She then stood up and went to leave when General Mansfield called over to her in his usual stuffy voice, "Aran, you don't necessarily have to leave. In fact, the Vice-Chairman hopes that you'll stay and help us further. Will you?"

Samus nodded. "Certainly, sir. I'd be glad to end the threat of what the _Bottle Ship_ began and bring those responsible to justice."

Mansfield managed to suppress his surprise that Samus knew that he was going to talk about the _Bottle Ship_ Incident and the search for the other conspirators. He then motioned for Samus to retake seat. Samus sat back down and she and Anthony waited for Mansfield to begin. "We have confirmed the information that you provided us earlier, Aran. Kenneth Ausia has decided to cop a deal with us, assuming his information is accurate. However, we are going to make sure that it is accurate, since he will be joining us on this mission."

"Are you sure that's wise, sir?" Anthony interjected.

"I'd say so, considering that the orders came from the Chairman, himself," a new voice stated. Walking up from behind Colonel Mansfield was Chairman of the Galactic Federation Council, Elric. Elric looked much like a Tolkienesque fantasy elf. He was slim, lithe, and even taller than Anthony Higgs. He was athletically built with brown hair and green eyes with pointed ears, the hallmark of his race. He had a ceremonial pistol on his left hip. Standing at his side was Vice-Chairman Cyrus, the highest-ranking human in the Galactic Federation. "Kenneth Ausia is going to be a valuable asset in determining who was in on this project, and who is merely a patsy or some fool private merely following the orders of his commanding officer."

"With respect, Chairman, I have my doubts on Ausia's loyalty," Samus stated plainly.

"We understand that," Cyrus told her. "We have devised a plan that will ensure that _former_ Councilman Ausia adheres to the letter and spirit of this mission."

"What is that plan?" Samus asked.

"If he does as he's told and the mission is successful, he gets his seat back," Elric answered. "If he doesn't, he's going to be the first person going in to arrest them, and fight off whatever troopers they have protecting them; with only a pea shooter, literally, heh, heh, heh." The grin that accompanied Elric's laugh served to unnerve Samus a bit.

"Now, as to the plan for attack," Mansfield cut in. "Captain Higgs, you'll be in command of Platoon 07. You and your team will have access to the most advanced weaponry and power armored suits the Army has at its disposal. That will mean combat shields for your suits, energy rifles with Chozo Beam tech weaponry. When you get onboard your ship, you'll receive further instructions and detailed layouts of the station we're going to be raiding.

"Aran," Mansfield called out, turning to Samus. "You are going in support of the main army units. As with your mission apprehending General Cutter, I am authorizing you to use any and all of your weapons and technology in this mission. Just to be certain, chances are that they may be trying to duplicate the work they began on the _Bottle Ship_. Be prepared to face off against any bioweapons that you may have encountered on the _Bottle Ship_."

"Understood," Samus responded, nodding slightly.

"Good," Mansfield said. "Any questions?"

"When do we head out, sir?" Anthony asked.

"In six hours," Mansfield answered.

"Understood, sir," Samus and Anthony responded in unison. They both saluted General Mansfield and then gave him a thumbs up, something that had been rare for Samus to give in the past. The General proceeded to leave. He was followed by Chairman Elric and Vice-Chairman Cyrus and his two guards. That left Samus and Anthony alone to finish their meals and drinks. Once they were finished, Anthony lamented, "Well, better get ready and brief the new guys. We're gonna be heading out, soon."

"Yeah," Samus echoed. "I'd better get ready, too." With that, the two rose and went their respective ways, knowing that they would meet again in the assault on _Research Facility 777_.

Once they had left, Chairman Elric leaned over to General Mansfield and asked, "You are certain that she does not know that Project Hunter is centered around her?"

"I'm positive, Chairman. She does not know," Mansfield answered.

"Good. Don't let anyone else know, either, not even Cyrus. He is already suspicious, and ambitious, enough as is."

"Understood, Chairman."

"Make certain that Cutter and the others know that there's an attack coming, but not so soon that they'll be able to avoid it. We need them to be in the process of making their plans to escape when the attack comes. In addition, it will look like Kenneth Ausia betrayed the group and, of course, he'll be killed in fighting. Project Hunter is not yet a failure, but it is not something that we should rely on, not yet at least. We'll need her to take another test before we can declare her a success or a failure. We also can't allow the Space Pirate Remnants or the Krikens access to this information. With it, they could replenish their ranks and make a Special Forces unit superior to our own."

"Yes, Chairman," the General said, bowing.

The Chairman gave one last grin before proceeding to make his way back to his chamber while General Mansfield prepared to plan the assault on _Research Facility 777_.

Meanwhile, Cyrus glanced back at the two of them as the Chairman made his way back to his chamber and General Mansfield went back to his office to make the final preparations of the attack on the research facility and the capture of the renegade elements of the Galactic Federation. Cyrus smiled as he removed a data recorder. He pushed a button and heard the playback, "_You are positive that she does not know that Project Hunter is centered around her?"_

The response played out, "_I'm positive, Chairman. She does not know_." Cyrus then stopped the recording. "Perfect," he said in a menacing tone. He would not bring this up yet. He wanted more evidence of the Chairman conducting illegal activities before bringing these charges to light. He needed to make sure that nothing came back to him, either. While he had not approved of these activities, he _was_ the Vice-Chairman of the Galactic Federation. Anything that the Chairman did would ultimately fall back on him as well. No, he needed to catch Elric red-handed in such a way that it was known that neither he, nor any of his allies in the government, was a part of Elric's plans in any way. If done correctly, it would not be too difficult to convince many of the worlds that he was not in on, or a part of, Elric's plans. Some would even believe that he did not know about them, or only acted when he learned about them. Convincing Earth, on the other hand, would be nigh impossible. The problem with Earth was that several important humans knew his secret and had made certain to tell others what they knew about him. It had been in spite of Earth that he had been able to be chosen as Elric's Vice-Chairman after former Chairman Keaton's death without any real incident. After all, Earth knew about his dark secret. And even if the rest of the Federation ignored it, Earth and its solar system colonies would not. And that would be a problem that would eventually have to be dealt with.

Meanwhile, back in subspace, Samus watched the computer screens as it counted down the time to the jump back to normal space. The counter was currently at twenty seconds and counting. Samus watched as each second ticked off of the clock. She held her breath when the counter reached ten…then _nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one_.

Once the counter reached one, her hand was on the lever. She pulled the lever and the ship jumped back into normal space. Even had she not jumped herself, her navigational computer would have automatically jumped the ship back into normal space. Once the ship jumped back into normal space, Samus saw the blue and brown planet sitting in space before them. She could also make out a small dot in the distance, at least a few thousand kilometers. Still, a few thousand kilometers was still close for most capital ships, which had weapons ranges that could reach three hundred thousand kilometers for some beam weapons and farther for missiles. She checked her sensor display and found what she feared. The ship design matched that of what she knew as an Orpheon-class Space Pirate frigate. She grimaced. _So there are surviving Pirates after all._ She then focused on the frigate and studied her sensors, keeping an eye out for any Space Pirate fighters. Kreatz and Mauk leaned over and quickly saw the display on Samus's screen that she was so intently studying.

"Wow," Kreatz exclaimed. "It's a Space Pirate frigate! Looks like we're gonna see some action after all!"

"Calm down Kreatz," Mauk advised. "That's a capital ship we're seeing off in the distance." Mauk then turned to Samus and asked, "Is this ship a match for a Space Pirate frigate?"

Samus shook her head. "In a fair fight, no," she said curtly.

"How about in a fight with controlled circumstances?" Kreatz wondered aloud.

"Even then, we would need the frigate's shields to be taken down _and_ for us to score a critical hit on a vital system. Space Pirate frigates have weapons ranges of almost a hundred thousand kilometers, in addition to pretty effective point defense systems specifically designed to take down missiles and torpedoes launched by starfighters and gunships. If I fired missiles from all of my launchers, even with MIRV warheads, I'd have to score a lucky hit if I wanted to cripple or disable a ship like that before its own weapons vaporized us," Samus explained.

"So I guess that shoots down my hopes for seeing that Space Pirate frigate get blown to pieces by your little gunship," Kreatz sighed, trying to lighten the situation.

"Speaking of the prospect of getting blown to pieces by the frigate, why hasn't the Space Pirate frigate opened fire?" Mauk asked, noticing that the frigate was making no hostile actions against them. "We're only a few thousand kilometers away from the ship, well within its weapons range."

"I don't know," Samus responded, just noticing that the Space Pirate vessel had not even locked onto her ship. It did not even seem to notice them, though Samus had her doubts about her ship not being noticed so close to the Space Pirate frigate. She was just glad that they had not opened fire on her. Samus decided that it was best to not do anything that would draw any attention to them so she continued on course towards the planet, acting as if everything was normal and the other ship was merely a curiosity. She knew that regardless of their plan, they would have to find some way to neutralize the frigate if they were to be able to go down to the surface and render any assistance to the colony, for if the frigate was left alone, it could snipe Samus's gunship at will. And with no help seemingly forthcoming, it was Samus's gunship against the frigate alone.

Just as they were about to begin formulating their plan for dealing with the frigate, there was another incoming transmission over the radio. Once again, the words, _Baby's Cry_ appeared on the monitor. "Man, they must really be getting desperate down there," Kreatz said, his tone indicating his concern for the people on Z-1A.

"No, this is a different signal," Samus said quickly, double-checking the display. "It's coming from somewhere else; someplace out of the solar system."

"What?" her companions asked. "A second Baby's Cry? Where could it possibly be coming from?" Kreatz asked.

Samus did not give an answer at first. She merely studied the computer and began a back trace on the signal. Baby's Cries were not encrypted so they were easy to trace. While this could be detrimental if the invaded party was surrounded by enemies or pirates looking for an easy score, with the signal merely calling more vultures to the feast, if allies were anywhere in the vicinity, it would help attract their attention to their plight. Soon, the signal came through. Its origin was a remote sector of space on the fringes of Galactic Federation space. Samus examined the location a little more closely and found that it was only ten thousand kilometers or so, give or take, from the last known position of the _Bottle Ship_ before it had jumped into warp to begin its course to Galactic Federation Headquarters.

"It's coming from the sector of space that was reported to have been the last known location of the _Bottle Ship_ before its jump," Samus told the others. This now presented the group with another problem. They had two Baby's Cries being given out to them, yet only one ship. Which one would they respond to?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Adam Malkovich sat in silence in the middle of Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_. The jettisoned section continued to hurtle through space with no end in sight or any destination planned, that Adam knew of. He knew what was on the other side of the door should he either open it or decide to try to make his way through it. The good news was that it was likely that the Desbrachians, Kyratians, and the Rhedogians were all eaten by the Metroids. The problem was that the Metroids in Sector Zero were said to be highly resistant to being frozen, and no longer vulnerable to extreme cold. Since he did not have any missiles for shattering frozen enemies, he would not be able to make it through without eventually leaving a number of enemies at his back. He then thought back to Samus and how she had come to assist the people onboard the _Bottle Ship_. He remembered how he had treated her. He remembered how he had changed ever since he had stepped onboard that station, and how this change was reversed the moment he jettisoned Sector Zero away from the rest of the station. He gave a sigh. "I'm sorry for everything I did to you onboard the _Bottle Ship_," he said to the lonely air inside the small chamber. He knew that he would not last much longer. He would have to take action soon, one way or another, and when he left this room, he would be going to his death. Adam then suddenly heard the one thing that he did not want to hear. A computerized female voice blared over the loudspeakers, "Baby's Cry distress signal sent. Any and all ships that can hear us, please respond!"

_No_! Adam almost cried aloud as his eyes went wide at the sound of the distress signal. _Someone managed to get to the communications array. And it had to be someone, since nothing here seems to be all that intelligent._ He then raced through the potential candidates as to who the one who activated the distress signal could be. Only one candidate came to mind.

"Oh no," he said softly, with doom in his voice. "She couldn't still be alive, could she? She was already on the _Bottle Ship_." Without any further hesitation, Adam rushed to the door, and opened it. Right in front of him were the shriveled remains of dozens of creatures, many of who had been at each other's throats mere moments before their demise, including several Desbrachians. Adam threw caution to the wind and ran as quickly as he could to reach the communications array and shut it down. He knew all too well what would happen if a passing ship came by to help whoever was onboard. He had to stop this threat to the galaxy before it could spread, especially if _she_ was still alive.

Samus considered her options as she listened to the two distress signals. She checked her sensors and found that there were almost a dozen Space Pirate fighters in the atmosphere of various classes and designs, in addition to a number of Assault Transports. Her gunship had the necessary armaments to deal with the fighters and transports easily enough. Her pulse cannons could shoot down air and spacecraft from miles away, and her missiles had ranges of above one hundred miles when dealing with atmospheric fighters. However, dealing with the frigate in orbit was another issue entirely, since it could practically take out Samus's current gunship in only one or two shots if it used its primary anti-capital ship weapons against it. Her gunship's maneuverability made that prospect highly unlikely, but a lucky shot would end her run very fast, and she did not have the firepower at the moment to inflict heavy damage to a capital ship, since most of her weapons were anti-fighter and tactical ground attack weapons. It things would be even worse if the frigate followed her gunship into the atmosphere. It still had effective point defense systems, so chances were that it could safely fire on Samus's ship and not risk damaging any Chozo artifacts on the surface.

There was another option as well, though Samus did not like considering it. She could always just answer the other Baby's Cry near the last known coordinates of the _Bottle Ship_ before it entered warp. There was the chance that it would be safer for her gunship and companions than the situation over the small archeological colony below them. Then again, it may even be worse, which could go both ways. On one hand, it would be much more dangerous for Samus and her friends to go into an unknown situation that could be even more hazardous than the one they were already in right now. On the other hand, the danger could be great if someone else responded and managed to escape. There was, however, a third option for Samus to take. She quickly typed in some new commands into her computer and then turned back to her friends.

"Kreatz, Mauk, do you know how to fly a Hunter-class gunship?" Samus asked.

Both of them nodded. "Good," the hunter responded. "Take the controls and take me in just close enough to the planet so that I can jump from the ship and let gravity take its course. You two then go and investigate the second Baby's Cry."

Kreatz and Mauk then glanced at one another with a mixture of inquisitiveness and utter disbelief. "Are you sure your suit can survive reentry?" Mauk asked.

"There's only one way to find out," Samus answered as she went back to one of her secret cargo compartments. "I'll keep a channel open with the ship, and with you." She then directed them to a secret compartment inside the ship. She opened the compartment and showed the two of them a small arsenal of blaster pistols, rifles, grenades, and even a bazooka-like cannon. "These are powerful emergency weapons in case I am ever forced to fight without my armor. These are not quite as powerful as my arm cannon weapons, but some have the same special effects as they do, such as the Wave Beam's shield and circuit-disrupting effects. Arm yourself with these as well, just in case you run into trouble while I'm on the planet's surface. Also, if you run into trouble, don't hesitate to call me. I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to respond, but I'll do whatever I can to help you."

"Right," Kreatz and Mauk affirmed in unison, nodding. Kreatz then took the pilot's seat and called back to Samus, "Get ready, Samus. We're about to get right into the atmosphere, to drop you off."

Just as he said that, two blue energy pulses flashed past the cockpit of the ship. "Aw, crap!" Kreatz swore. "We've got SP's on our bow!"

Sure enough, two needle-like Space Pirate fighters were closing in on her gunship, seventy-five kilometers and fast. Samus looked a little worried since Kreatz was not returning fire. He fumbled with the controls on the dashboard, but no missiles or energy pulses were being launched at the fighters, who were well within firing range. She went up to Kreatz and cried, "What's wrong? Why aren't you returning fire?"

"Where are the weapons controls on this thing?" he roared in answer to her question.

Samus suppressed a groan and she moved in close to the control console. She pushed a large, very conspicuous red button that was labeled, _Activate Weapons Systems_. Immediately, the two prows opened, revealing some missile launchers on her wings. Two twin-linked pulse cannons also emerged from the dorsal and ventral areas of the ship. Samus then pushed a green button that was labeled, _Shield controls_. Mauk soon came over and said, "Move over Kreatz, let me handle this. I have combat experience in a ship like this one."

"Wait, Mauk," Kreatz pleaded. "I've got it now. I've got it."

"We don't have time for arguments," Samus called out over the arguing of her friends. "Take out those fighters, now!" As if to accentuate her point, her gunship shook as an energy pulse struck the cockpit window. A bluish field of energy appeared as the bolt splashed across the window. The field of energy spread out to a radius of a few feet before dissipating.

"I see your point, Samus," Kreatz called back to her. He then used what he knew of piloting transports to lock onto the two fighters. Knowing that they were now well within range of the pulse cannons, Kreatz opened fire. After entering the fighters into the targeting computer, the computer did the rest, zeroing in on and unleashing a devastating volley of blood-red energy pulses at the fighters. The pulses scored direct hits and annihilated the Space Pirate fighters. Before returning to the escape hatch, Samus made a quick check on the shields of the craft. So far, the hit had only managed to take the shields down to ninety-two percent. That was quite good, all things considered.

Samus then went into a compartment and got out a plastic-like covering for her Power Suit. It was a reentry shield that some orbital jump troopers sometimes used to make quick, or emergency, jumps into combat zones. Once she had put on the suit, Samus moved back to the exit hatch, where she waited for the ship to move into position where she could drop from the ship, through the atmosphere, and hopefully to the archeological dig fully intact and uninjured. This was something that she had never tried before. Several more Space Pirate fighters came up to meet the intruding gunship, only to be shot down by a volley of cluster seeker missiles well before they were within optimum firing range. The burning debris that had once been the Space Pirate fighters fell back to the planet.

It was not long before the ship was in position, sitting in a geosynchronous orbit over the archeological dig site. Kreatz turned back to Samus and asked, "Are you sure about this?"

"No," Samus admitted. "But we don't have much of a choice now." Her point was again, accentuated by blue energy fire raining down from above. The frigate was targeting her ship. Before she went to make her jump, Samus called over to her two friends and told them, "I've programmed the computer to accept your bio-signs for exiting and entering the gunship. Don't hesitate to contact me when you find the origin of that signal, and if you find anyone or anything at its origin."

With that, Samus opened the hatch and as soon as it was open, and both Kreatz and Mauk were strapped in, Kreatz lowered the ship's shields. Samus then proceeded to jump out of the gunship and fall down to the planet. Both Kreatz and Mauk uttered silent prayers for Samus's safe landing. They were more worried about the possibility of her surviving reentry than about her surviving the fall, even with the reentry shield. As soon as Samus had left the ship, Kreatz raised the shields and proceeded to lift off, and rocket out of the atmosphere. As they rose and flew away from the planet, the Space Pirate frigate took a few shots at the gunship but they went wide, and soon, were out of the point defense range of the frigate. Once they were safely away, they plotted a course to the location of the second Baby's Cry distress signal. Once the course was laid in, Kreatz looked back at Z-1A and quietly said, "You be careful down there, Samus." The ship then proceeded to jump to warp.

Back on Daiban, the other Samus was standing inside her apartment, readying herself for her next mission, assisting Galactic Federation Platoon 07 in the taking of _Research Facility 777_ and the capture of the ringleaders of the rogue elements of the Galactic Federation that commissioned both Project Metroid Warriors and Project Hunter. In the meantime, Samus had acquired some more Missile Tanks and she now had one hundred missiles at her disposal. In addition, she had been gifted with three more Energy Tanks, bringing her total to twelve. Along with the Ice, Wave, and Plasma Beam combination, she felt unstoppable. There certainly was nothing onboard the research facility that would stop her, anyway. Her thoughts soon drifted back to Adam. She knew that if he were still alive, it would be _him_ leading this mission, not Mansfield. Something about Mansfield still bothered her. She could not put her finger on it, but she felt as if something was still not right. Maybe it was merely due to the circumstances of their first meeting. He had shown since then that he was not in on the plan by the corrupt elements of the Galactic Federation when he was a part of the mission to bring in those very rogue elements. Samus took a look at her sparsely furnished apartment. Besides the bed, there was a single chair, a television, and a table in front of the chair for the rare meal that she ate in her apartment. It was not all that different from her usual apartment not too far away from Galactic Federation Headquarters. She knew that she would not need much of anything from here. Besides her armor, the only set of clothing she would have any use for would be her Zero Suit. Once she was finished inside her apartment, she proceeded to leave.

After she left her apartment, she headed down the long corridor towards the landing pad that contained her ship so she could wait for further instructions. Along the way, a young woman, approximately twenty-one years old, was running in the opposite direction. She had black hair, fair skin, and was wearing a Galactic Federation Army uniform. The woman slowed down upon seeing Samus, seemingly recognizing her. Samus stared at the woman, who she had no real recollection of. The young woman then greeted Samus, saying, "Hello Samus, it's been quite a while since I last saw you."

"I'm sorry, miss, have we met?" Samus asked. For a second, she thought that she knew the young woman from somewhere, but could not place her finger on where or how she had known the young woman.

"Oh, sorry," the woman said sheepishly. "I guess you wouldn't remember since it's been so long. My name's Damara; Damara Gomez. You saved me from the Space Pirates on Jigrad while they had occupied the city I lived in."

Suddenly, Samus remembered her. She had been scheduled for execution by the Pirates due to being too short. Samus had come in and killed all but one of the Pirates, saving the girl's and a lot of other people's lives in the process. She had been studying at the Federation Academy, and wanted to be an engineer. In the process, she had taken an interest in the military and went on to go to Officer Candidacy School for the Galactic Federation Army, focusing her area of expertise on engineering.

"Yeah," Samus said, beginning to remember Damara, "I remember you now. You entered the Federation Academy five years ago, right?"

"That's right," Damara replied, feeling a little embarrassed. "Now, I'm a part of Platoon 07. I wanted to be under the command of Commander General Malkovich, but since his death, Captain Higgs is the current commander, with Colonel, no, General, Mansfield now commanding the entire platoon, at least for this mission." She then nervously said, "I'm sorry, Samus. I have to get going. The briefing's going to start soon, and I'm already late. I just wanted to say hi again, and thank you for what you did for us on Jigrad."

"You're welcome, Damara," Samus responded. "Well, you better get going. You don't want to be late for Anthony or General Mansfield."

Damara bowed and then rushed off towards the briefing room at full speed. Samus watched her run off and smiled. She remembered what it had been like when she had first joined the Galactic Federation Army. She had been even younger than Damara, having still been a teenager when she entered the army and served under Adam. She remembered being rebellious, but Adam had always understood her, where others had not. She missed Adam, now more than ever. But it was her duty to finish what he started. With a sigh, Samus then continued on her way towards her ship.

Meanwhile, General Mansfield was about to begin the briefing when Damara had finally entered the room, just barely in time to hear the briefing. "Ah, Lieutenant Gomez," General Mansfield began, drawing a great deal of attention to the new arrival, Damara, "you're just in time for the briefing to begin. I recommend that you don't make a habit of cutting it this close."

"I won't, sir," Damara responded sheepishly.

"See that you don't," Mansfield retorted harshly, which seemed to draw some disapproval from Anthony, as well as a few of the other members of Platoon 07.

Mansfield did not skip a beat and continued with the briefing, "Okay, listen up everyone. I will be the commanding officer for the mission, so the Chain of Command stops with me. Here's how we're going to break it down. Each will platoon will be broken into squads of eight to twelve men, each. These squads will further be broken down into fireteams of four soldiers, each, with three fireteams per squad. Each fireteam will be given a single heavy weapon, either a plasma cannon or a missile launcher." A display of the known schematics of _Research Facility 777_ appeared on the large screen behind the General. "We will breach the facility using the boarding transports _G.F.S. Hermes_ and _G.F.S. Medusa_ launched from the _G.F.S. Loki_, a Federation troopship. There will be six platoons involved in the initial assault and capture of the station: Platoon Oh-Five, under the command of Colonel Geraldo Hayes," he indicated a tall, Hispanic man in his mid thirties with black hair, "Platoon Oh-Six, under the command of Major Donald Fisher," he glanced over at a balding man in his early fifties, "Platoon Oh-Seven, under the command of Captain Anthony Higgs," he then glanced over at Anthony, and gave an unpleasant look that seemed to almost be a sneer, "Platoon Oh-Eight, under the command of Major Caroline Jenkins," he indicated an attractive Caucasian woman with light brown hair that fell to her shoulders, "Platoon Oh-Nine, under the command of Captain John Haley," he directed a glance over to a young man who looked to be in his mid to late twenties, "and finally, Platoon 10, under the command of Captain Allan House," he finished, directing attention towards a middle-aged elf-like man with short blond hair.

Once he was finished with the introductions to the platoon commanders, he looked back at the schematics of _Research Facility 777_. "Platoons Oh-Five through Oh-Seven will be placed onboard the _G.F.S. Hermes_, while Platoons Oh-Eight through Ten will be stationed onboard the _G.F.S._ _Medusa_ for the assault." He then paused to let the information sink in before continuing, "We have convinced a member of this renegade group of Galactic Federation officials to tell us the defenses that have been set up in and around _Research Facility Seven-Seven-Seven_. So far, we know that it is designed to ward off a large-scale assault, like that of a capital ship. It also has a defense grid that is designed to intercept attacking transports and starfighters. This is not important for us. The _G.F.S. Hermes_ and _G.F.S. Medusa_ are equipped with cloaking devices, so we should be able to drop into the system and get to the station, unannounced. Should we be detected, we'll merely step up Phase Two of the plan. Phase One, however, requires us to cut off all exits to the ship, save for the boarding ship. Samus's gunship will also be deployed and destroy all escape craft in the main bay. We will systematically cut off all avenues of escape. Our ship will be the only exit to the ship."

It was then that one of the soldiers, Damara Gomez, raised her hand. "Excuse me, sir, but once we get onboard the ship and start blowing up escape pods and evacuation ships, won't the rogue officials know that we're onboard? Won't they have time to formulate a defense or even plan a secondary escape route?"

General Mansfield grimaced. The latecomer had a point. "You raise a good point, Lieutenant. Indeed, they would, if they realized that we were the ones attacking their escape craft. That's where the _Loki_ and its fighter complement will come in. The _Loki's_ fighters will be a diversion, making them think that the attacks are targeting their escape craft. After all, there are point defense systems near each and every one of the escape pods and evacuation ships. Our fighters will be ostensibly fighting to destroy the cannons to make way for the boarding vessels, all the while, the holographic projectors and cloaking devices of the _Hermes_ and _Medusa_ will ensure that they don't know that they're under attack until it's too late and Samus has destroyed all of their evacuation ships. Even should some manage to reach the escape pods, we can track them down and capture them…or destroy them if there is no other choice." That last bit caused the crowd to murmur.

"Are our orders to apprehend or to kill them, sir?" another soldier asked.

"Either," General Mansfield answered. "Apprehend," Anthony Higgs answered, simultaneously with Mansfield. The two then glared at each other. It was obvious that the two did not like each other.

"This time, my orders come directly from the Chairman of the Galactic Federation, himself, Captain," Archie Mansfield said quietly in a low, cold voice, as if daring Anthony to continue the argument.

Anthony did not back down. "As do mine, General," Anthony countered. "The orders I received from the Chairman said that our mission is to apprehend the renegades, not kill them."

"And they are," Mansfield answered. "It's just that if there is no choice but to kill them or let them escape, then our orders are to kill them.

"Just so we're clear, General, the primary mission _is_ to capture them, right?"

"Right, Captain." General Mansfield could not keep the hardness out of his voice.

"Very well, sir," Anthony responded before sitting back down. The briefing then continued.

"From what our source indicates, the renegades should have several Army troopers and soldiers in police uniforms," General Mansfield continued. "Be careful around them. You are being given the best equipment for this mission. Use it wisely. These troopers are not necessarily our enemies, but if you have no choice but to use deadly force to get past them or to save yourselves, then do not hesitate to do so. More detailed orders will be given to you by your platoon commanders."

"Understood, sir," the troopers inside the room responded. Damara looked around nervously. She had entered the Galactic Federation Army with the hopes of serving for her tour, then leaving and becoming an engineer. She realized that she might have to kill some of the Federation's enemies, but firing on other Federation citizens, and possibly even killing them, was something else entirely.

"Dismissed!" Mansfield barked. With that, the soldiers broke off into their various platoons and began discussing the plan of attack.

Meanwhile, on _Research Facility 777_, General Cutter looked at his accomplices. To his immediate right was General Marcus Sheppard, a man in his late forties with red hair and brown eyes. To Sheppard's right was a human woman with short black hair and brown eyes, Dr. Nicole Carter. To her right was a man in his late fifties in a Galactic Federation military uniform. He was a green reptilian-like being with two antennae, Speaker of the Council, and third in command of the Galactic Federation, Chamolos. To his right, and General Cutter's left was an alien with bluish skin, a known metamorph named Drayka. He had been the Director of Federation Intelligence Agency. He was also the Head of Internal Security inside the Galactic Federation and often gave loyalty tests to Federation employees, as well as having created a new security force that answered only to him and Elric. This new security force more greatly resembled the Gestapo than any other legitimate security agency. And finally, to Cutter's immediate left was an elf-like humanoid male of Kreatz and Elric's species named Eiden. Eiden had short, blond hair and wore a black tunic and pants with a black trench coat. Eiden was the Minister of Truth, a new office created by Chairman Elric within the Galactic Federation. Surrounding the sextet were sixteen Galactic Federation Army troopers.

General Cutter soon began the briefing, "To all that are gathered here, I apologize for the inconvenient calls that told you to come here at this point in time."

"The calls may have been inconvenient," Dr. Nicole Carter interrupted, "But the order for everyone to assemble at our remaining research facility was foolish to say the least. How do we know that Samus or someone else in the Galactic Federation doesn't know about this? Elric can only hide his involvement from the rest of the Council for so long. He's the Chairman of the Galactic Federation now. If he were ever to have been discovered to have been a part of this work, there is no guarantee that he would not tell the rest of the Federation about us to save his own career."

"Dr. Carter's right," Chamolos declared loudly. "Dr. Bergman was taken into protective custody over a week ago. It is highly likely that she has already testified before the Council. It would not surprise me if the Federation is preparing an assault on us."

"Coming here will be suicidal for any Galactic Federation force," Cutter interjected. "The bioweapons we have here would be too much for a mere patrol ship or transport to overcome. We also have state-of-the-art defenses so even a battleship would be hard-pressed to take down its defenses. Besides, we still have Elric on our side. He won't let the Federation fleet use any of its more effective forces against this station."

"What about Samus Aran?" Drayka, the blue-skinned metamorph asked. "And I don't mean Clone Samus," he added forcefully. "Samus Aran has taken on many missions that entire armies could not have accomplished. She did more to stop the Phazon Crisis than anyone else, wiped out the Metroids on SR388, destroyed the Space Pirate Base on Zebes, twice, and has completed other missions as well. We may well have to take her into consideration."

"I highly doubt that," the General stated confidently.

"What makes you so certain?" Eiden asked in his trademark soft, cunning voice. "You were forced to flee from a Samus that did not have all of the weapons that the Samus on Zebes had when she destroyed the Space Pirate base and Mother Brain for a second time. What will happen if she chases you down here?"

"I can deal with _that_ Samus," Cutter responded haughtily. "The other one will not be a concern for us. Besides, she's still in a coma onboard the _Olympus_. Just make sure that the rest of the hunters are ready. We have some of the best technology we could create for them, and I don't want them to be staying behind the lines. We still have a chance to take over the Galactic Federation and rule openly."

"What about Cyrus and the Galactic Federation Council?" General Sheppard asked. "Heck, even Elric, for that matter. He originally commissioned the projects on the _Bottle Ship_ and here so that the Federation would be _protected_ from the likes of the Space Pirates and the Kriken Empire. These experiments have been a failure; at least those onboard the _Bottle Ship_ were."

"And that's why it will be your job to make sure that your forces are ready to help us, General," Cutter retorted harshly. "Eventually, for us to take over, Elric will have to be disposed of, as will Cyrus. He's already too suspicious of us, and his less than reputable resources back on Earth will make him a nightmare should he ascend to the Chairmanship."

"So what's the plan, Commander General?" Dr. Carter asked.

"We start awakening the hunters in stasis, here," the General began. "We will need their support against whatever forces the Federation sends against us. We will then jam all of their communications with the rest of the Federation and use our own equipment to send our own signals that indicate that everything is fine. With any luck, we should be able to take over whatever ship they bring here, warp it to Daiban, and crash it into GFHQ."

"So, it's basically MB's strategy, only with a Federation ship, rather than a space station that was modified to be able to go at hyper-light speeds," Dr. Carter summarized, skeptically.

"Correct, doctor," Chamolos answered.

"And are the troops here protecting us loyal?" the scientist asked.

"Yes, ma'am," the troops answered for both Chamolos and General Cutter. They saluted all of the attendees present.

"So what do we do now?" Dr. Carter asked.

"We wait for the Federation," Eiden answered. "And give them one hell of a surprise when they attack."

The answer seemed to satisfy Dr. Nicole Carter, for the moment. She could hear the chuckling of Eiden, Drayka, and Sheppard, as well as that of some of the troops, all clad in their blue and black power armored suits. What none of the leaders of the coup attempt noticed was a single Army trooper leave the room and walk down a corridor. Along the way, he walked past several other troopers, each keeping watch over various sections of the station and access tunnels and elevators. They were present as a second line of defense should the weapons escape or turn against their masters. He soon entered a turbolift, which took him to the residential area of the station, and entered his quarters.

Inside his quarters, the lone trooper went to his desk in the corner of the room and opened a folded computer. After typing in a command, the faces of Chairman Elric and General Mansfield appeared on the screen. "You were right, Chairman. I've confirmed the information that Doctor Bergman has provided. Indeed, the plans for crashing the _Bottle Ship_ into Galactic Federation Headquarters were not necessarily originated by MB. The other members of the conspiracy have the same goals. They seek to usurp Chairman Elric."

"Good work, Trooper Pearlman," General Mansfield said. "Now, get out of there. You don't want to be between us and the conspirators when the shooting starts."

"There's one more thing, General," Pearlman told him. "They managed to get Project Hunter off the ground. It consists of the cloning of many well known bounty hunters including, but not necessarily limited to, Rundas, Gandrayda, Weavel the Space Pirate, Kanden, 'Big Time' Brannigan, and Samus Aran. I also have reason to believe that they have already deployed a clone of Samus Aran, as they were concerned about the prospect of either facing the clone or the real one, Cutter was not specific about that in the briefing."

"Even better, trooper," General Mansfield said with satisfaction. "Get out of there now, before you're discovered."

"Yes sir," Trooper Pearlman answered. He then shut down the computer and wiped its hard drive. He could not leave any information about his true loyalties for the others to find should he be discovered.

Back at Galactic Federation Headquarters, Chairman Elric sat in the dark behind the figures of General Mansfield and Madeline Bergman. "So they _were_ planning on performing a coup." He turned to Madeline and said, "Looks like you're off the hook, Dr. Bergman. Still, there are some things that we need to know. Do you know of any weaknesses to the technology of the hunters?"

"Yes, Mister Chairman," Dr. Bergman responded with a bow. "The hunters each have a weakness built into them that should allow for quick kills. I developed it on the chance that they would ever turn on the Federation. For the organic hunters that don't rely on a lot of special armor, like Kanden and Gandrayda, they have a weakness between their eyes. For those who rely on armor and shields, their weakness is a small square structure on the back that stands out. One direct hit to the vulnerable area should either disable the hunter's suit or severely damage it. No more than two hits should be sufficient to take them out."

"I see," General Mansfield answered. "And you are certain that these weaknesses can be readily exploited by my soldiers?"

"I am," Dr. Bergman responded. "Listen, General and Chairman. I made a terrible mistake developing those bioweapons, thinking that we could control living beings like that. Here, my former colleagues are taking our research a step further and developing more bounty hunters. They're insane!"

"Yes," Chairman Elric responded softly. "I know. And they will be dealt with."

"Everything that you need to disable that station is on this card," she told him. She then handed the Chairman the card.

After taking the card, Elric said, "Thank you, Dr. Bergman. Dismissed!"

Dr. Bergman then bowed and proceeded to leave the Chairman's office. Once Dr. Bergman was gone, Elric handed General Mansfield the data card and told him, "Make sure that the platoon leaders get this and tell them to inform their troopers about the weaknesses of these hunters. Also make sure that Samus gets the data card she will need to use in order to disable the facility's internal security systems. This attack will have to be done quickly."

"Yes, sir," General Mansfield responded. With that, Archie Mansfield exited the Chairman's chambers.

After the General had left, Elric proceeded to make his way over to his computer and wait for the opportune moment to alert the occupants onboard _Research Facility 777_ that the Galactic Federation was coming. More than needing his enemies destroyed, he needed to know that his greatest potential asset, Samus Aran, was still capable of carrying out her missions.

Back onboard _Research Facility 777_, Trooper Pearlman departed his quarters, the doors to his room sliding closed behind him. He then proceeded towards the turbolift, saluting the higher-ranking troopers along the way. Upon reaching the end of the hall, he entered the turbolift and took it down to the hangar bay. The facility still had several one-man warp capable stealth starfighters so he was not concerned about being able to escape once he managed to commandeer a starfighter and leave. He also had the proper codes for going out for patrol in order to ensure that no enemy starships managed to take a look at the station. Still, he was nervous. He had a bad feeling that he may have been discovered. He rode the turbolift until it stopped and gave off a chime, indicating that it had reached the hangar bay level.

Pearlman stepped off of the elevator and immediately found himself staring down over a dozen Galactic Federation Army soldiers. Pearlman immediately slumped over and a look of absolute horror had crossed his face. Just then, the troopers parted ways and a man wearing a blue suit of armor with blue highlights approached. The trooper knew that it was General Cutter. He had gotten his suit repaired. He approached until he was only a few meters away.

"We detected an unauthorized transmission from your quarters, trooper," Cutter said sternly. "Tell me now, who did you make contact with?" he commanded.

"I don't…kn…kn…know what you're…t…t…t…talking about, Commander General, sir," Pearlman stammered in reply.

General Cutter then drew out a device and a hologram appeared, showing him talking to someone on the computer monitor. The camera, however, did not allow the viewer to get an image on what was showing on the screen. "Now, once again Trooper, who were you talking to? Space Pirates? The Federation? The Krikens?"

Seeing that he was caught, but not wanting to let them know that the Federation was planning an attack, Trooper Pearlman replied, "It was the Krikens, Commander General," lying. "They offered me three million gold credits for any information on Federation black projects. Well, this most definitely…ahhhh!" but his answer was cut short by a scream as General Cutter shot him in the chest with his suit's Power Beam. Trooper crumpled to the floor, where he remained, quivering but still alive. Cutter then fired again, burning another hole into his armor, and flesh. He then fired again, and again, and again. After six subsequent firings, Trooper Pearlman was dead, seven holes neatly burned through his torso.

"Do you think he was telling the truth about selling us out to the Krikens?" one of the Army troopers asked.

"Who knows," Cutter answered. "But it won't matter for much longer anyway. The time is coming for this ship to move out. Get down to engineering and tell them that I want the warp drive implemented on this thing as soon as possible. Also, tell tactical to be on the lookout for any warships in the vicinity. I don't know if he was working for the Krikens or not, but I'll be damned if I let anyone catch us off guard."

"Yes sir," the trooper responded. He and the rest then left the General alone with the body of Trooper Pearlman. He then proceeded to drag Trooper Pearlman to the hangar bay, where he dropped the body. He then opened the hatch and lowered its shields so that the body could be blown into outer space. After he closed the hatch and raised the hangar shield once more, he proceeded to leave so he could get to work filling out the paperwork over the trooper's death. He would go into details about some horrible accident in the hangar bay during a routine maintenance check on their craft and how he was blown into space. He would also tell his family of his bravery and how troopers like him were rare. It would be an inconvenience for him, but he had to maintain the secrecy of this facility. He only hoped that Kenneth Ausia had managed to get out and if he was, somehow, captured, that he would not talk. If he did, then they were all in big trouble.

Meanwhile, in Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_ a young blond haired woman dressed in a white lab coat watched the screen as Commander General Cutter executed Trooper Pearlman. She gave a dry smile at the trooper's lie about having sold out the facility to the Krikens. It was definitely imaginative. It also covered his true allegiance to the Galactic Federation, or rather, Cyrus Mann. The Krikens had always been in search of bountiful planets to conquer. In a pinch, they would even go after space stations on the fringes of their space. Given the location of _Research Facility 777_, it was very possible that the Krikens would, indeed, decide to launch a raid on the station. A klaxon soon went off and the woman looked into another monitor. In it, she saw a man dressed in Galactic Federation Army power armor, minus the helmet, slowly making his way through the sector. She smiled wryly at the man's courage, and gave a chuckle at his seeming stupidity.

"I wondered when you would make your move, Adam," the woman said in a sinister tone. She then looked up at another monitor detailing the fact that the Baby's Cry distress signal was being broadcasted out in every direction. She grinned in satisfaction. She knew that Adam did not have a choice. Once that signal was sent out, she knew he would have to make his move. It did not matter, though. He was already too late. Some ship would come by and examine the scene. The Baby's Cry would see to that. And on the off chance that she was defeated and her body destroyed by Adam, she knew that she would live on. Like Ridley and Mother Brain, she would not be killed so easily.

Back on Daiban, bounty hunter Samus Aran, clad only in her Zero Suit, for the moment, was going over her final checklist before departure. Everything was in order. She soon heard over the loudspeakers in her cabin, "This is GFHQ Control to Samus Aran."

"Samus Aran here; go ahead."

"You are cleared for takeoff. Good luck out there," the voice over the line wished her.

"I roger that," Samus replied, and then cut the comm.

She then eased the controls into an ascent as her gunship lifted off from Galactic Federation Headquarters. The ship gently lifted off from the landing pad and only accelerated upwards once she was clear of the pad fully. Once she did accelerate, though, it did not take long for the ship to make it out of the atmosphere and into the orbit of Daiban. Samus looked out the cockpit window and saw the transports _G.F.S. Hermes_, and _G.F.S. Medusa_, and the troopship, _G.F.S. Loki_ out the view port. The _Hermes_ and_ Medusa_ were boxy Kratos-class transports that were capable of holding over one hundred and fifty troops, each. They were currently entering the landing bay of the much larger troopship, the _Hermes_ already having entered the hangar bay. The _Loki_ was incredibly large, measuring at least a thousand meters in length, and it was also quite tall, vertically. At full capacity, it could hold at least ten thousand troops, plus armor, equipment, and repair technicians. The _Loki_ would provide cover and additional troops if necessary. As for now, it merely served to allow the _Hermes_ and _Medusa_ to get to their destinations without difficulty. As Samus went into formation with the _Loki_, she activated her ship's stealth systems. After a few seconds, both ships simultaneously went into warp.

Back on Z-1A, Prime Samus Aran shot through the atmosphere of the planet like a needle and rocketed towards the ground. She had been falling for quite a while. She checked her position and while she was not too high up, she could tell that she would be off her mark by almost a mile. That was not the greatest problem she had, though. Her reentry shield had already burned away during the initial reentry, though that, too was trivial now. Samus's main issue was whether or not her Power Suit would survive the impact with the ground. She did have some emergency thrusters on the back of her suit, but they were only useful for assisting her in jumping. They did not really even allow her to fly in the air. The fall from orbit would not have been a problem for the Varia or Gravity Suits due to their increased defenses, but in her regular Power suit, she was not so sure that she would survive impact without some help. She figured that her best chance would be if she fired her rockets at exactly the right time before she hit the ground. And with her about to reach the surface fast, she knew that it was about time to fire off the rockets.

She quickly calculated how long it would take her to reach the surface of the planet and began a countdown. As the ground got closer and closer in her view, she continued to count down: ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one. Samus then leveled herself and quickly placed herself in a vertical pose and fired off the rockets, trying to slow her fall as much as she could before hitting the ground. Just then, she hit the ground and grunted. It was a hard landing and her suit's shields took damage. About three Energy Tanks vanished from her HUD, and a fourth was only at ten units. However, given that she had sixteen Energy Tanks powering the defenses of her suit, she seemed to be pretty well off. She then checked to make sure that she had suffered no further damage. So far, her Ice Beam was fine, as were her Morph Ball ability, and her missile and Super Missile launcher and Missile Tanks. All in all, she had come through the orbital jump relatively well off. Now, she faced new problem, beyond the fact that she had landed a mile away from the center of the small colony. Several Space Pirate Troopers were coming out to meet her. She could tell on the looks of their faces that she was the last thing that they wanted to see.

"Oh my darkness, it's the Hunter!" one of the Pirate Troopers cried.

"It's the Hunter! We're all gonna die!" another cried frantically.

"Run! It's the Hunter!" a third cried as he fled the battle, heading back towards the colony.

Others just cried in despair and horror and opened fire on Samus, unleashing a vicious storm of blue energy pulses, hoping against hope that they would be able to inflict some damage on her before she slaughtered them. Their wild shots were easy for her to avoid. Dodging the aim of each of the Pirates that fired on her, Samus took no damage. She merely switched to her Power Beam, charged a single Power Beam shot and took aim at the Pirate Troopers that were firing wildly at her. She targeted one of the troopers and let loose with an orange burst of plasma. The concentrated energy from the Charge Beam shot almost instantaneously struck the Pirate, collapsing his combat shields and scoring a direct hit on the armor. A second Charged Shot was more than enough to finish him. Samus then calmly focused on the other Pirates, dancing around their shots with the grace of a professional dancer. Another duo of Charged Shots took down a second Pirate.

The others decided that discretion was the better part of valor and decided to flee the scene. However, an Armored Pirate Trooper appeared on the scene and got the others back in line, yelling, "What is wrong with you? We outnumber her twenty-to-one! The Hunter must have taken damage from the fall, now get back into the fight and kill her!"

"You do it!" one of the Pirates retorted as he fled the battle.

The Armored Pirate Trooper then pointed his right claw at the fleeing Pirate and opened fire on him. A volley of blue energy shots streaked towards fleeing trooper. Also a green missile-like ball of plasma also followed the trooper. The energy bolts and the plasma ball were more than sufficient to take down the fleeing Pirate Trooper. The Pirate Trooper fell forward and lay on the ground, dead. "Anyone else want to leave?" the Armored Pirate Trooper asked menacingly.

A few seemed like they could have gone either way, but eventually, they rejoined the battle lines and proceeded to focus on Samus. Samus, who during the fleeing of the cowardly, or smart, Pirate Trooper, had killed two more Pirate Troopers. This left seventeen troopers for her to face, including the Armored Trooper. She then switched to her Ice Beam and powered a Charged Shot, readying the Ice Spreader in the process. "Bring it on," she said quietly to the approaching Pirates with a twinkle of excitement in her eyes as she prepared for her first battle since she had awakened from her coma.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Samus readied her Ice Spreader, making certain to target the closest squadron of Pirate Troopers coming her way. The Space Pirates had split up into two squadrons of eight, with the Armored Pirate Trooper leading the charge. Samus noted, from the death of the fleeing trooper, that the Space Pirates had replaced their close combat energy scythes with plasma cannons of some sort. It did not seem to resemble Chozo technology, though. Samus did not worry, though. She quickly powered her Ice Beam and targeted one of the squadrons of Pirate Troopers. She did not know whether or not the Ice Spreader would affect the Armored Pirate Trooper, but she did not worry about that at the moment. She was more concerned about thinning out the ranks of the Space Pirates. She knew that this Charge Combination would cost her ten missiles per use. One of the squadrons came within thirty meters and Samus then unleashed a massive blast of ice from her cannon. As her blast rapidly approached the Space Pirates, it began to expand. It continued to expand until it struck the lead trooper and exploded, much like an Ice Missile, except for the fact that it was far stronger. Four Pirates were frozen into a large block of ice by explosion of frigid energy and two others on the fringes of the blast had sustained damage, having some of their limbs frozen by the blast. Samus targeted the block of ice and fired a single missile at the ice. The missile streaked towards the block of ice and soon struck the block, shattering it, and the unfortunate Pirates trapped by the ice, into thousands of pieces. The other two Pirates, who had had their right and left arms and legs frozen respectively were quickly finished by two subsequent Charged Power Beam Shots from Samus's arm cannon. That left only eleven Space Pirates left.

Samus proceeded to dance away from the energy and plasma pulses fired her way by the remaining Pirates. The two survivors from the squad that Samus had decimated formed up with the second squad. Samus focused on the Armored Pirate Trooper and fired a missile at him. The missile erupted from her arm cannon and a trail of exhaust followed the missile as it streaked towards the Armored Pirate Trooper. Upon striking the Armored Pirate Trooper, the missile detonated and blew off the armor of the Armored Pirate Trooper. Pieces of metal littered the floor around the now unarmored Pirate Trooper. Samus smiled. If she could get the Pirates to group themselves close enough together, then she could take them all out with a single hit. Just then, she felt an impact on her chest. One the Pirate's energy blasts had managed to tag her. She danced away from the other energy blasts, but was still hit by a few other pulses of energy. Each hit took out seven units of energy from Samus's Energy Tanks. She switched to her Ice Beam and charged it, not only to power her Ice Spreader, but to draw in energy from the dead Pirate Troopers. This energy could be utilized by her Power Suit to replenish her shields. The energy congealed into small, purple energy balls and gravitated towards Samus as she kept her Ice Beam charged. The balls soon struck her and were absorbed by her suit, instantly replenishing her shields, restoring an entire Energy Tank. Samus studied the Pirate formation and found that they were grouping closer together. A few were still on the wings, out of range of the Ice Spreader's blast radius. She did not care, though. She knew that she the longer this fight dragged on, the greater the chances of these Space Pirates being able to summon reinforcements. She had to take care of this now.

Samus began her second assault by targeting the center of the Space Pirate formation, the former Armored Trooper leading the charge. She unleashed a second Ice Spreader shot and a second wave of ice erupted from her arm cannon. The ice shot spread out as it approached the Space Pirate force. These Space Pirates were smart enough to flee from the Ice Spreader's shot. Unfortunately, Samus had locked onto the Space Pirate leader and the ice shot was homing in on him. In less than a second, the ice shot managed to catch up to him and it detonated, encasing him, along with four of his companions, in ice. Samus quickly switched to her missiles and fired a missile at the ice block. The missile struck the ice block and exploded, shattering it, and the Pirates as well. She then got to work targeting the four remaining Space Pirate Troopers. She decided to finish off the remaining Pirates quickly with a volley of missiles. She targeted each Space Pirate individually and systematically took down each of the remaining Pirate Troopers. Two missiles were enough to finish each Trooper. In less than thirty seconds, the battle was over.

Once the Space Pirates were all dead, Samus proceeded to check her map and try to find out where she was. As expected, her map did not show much, since she did not have a map of the area downloaded. She deactivated her map and began to search for any signs of further Space Pirate activity, hoping that it would lead her to the colony. She suspected that the Space Pirates were likely already at the colony and had taken over. She scanned her surroundings and soon found a tunnel to the northeast. Remembering from her fall that she had landed southwest of the colony, Samus proceeded to enter the tunnel in hopes of finding her way to the colony so she could liberate it of any Space Pirate activity.

Over at the colony, Ridley fired a blast of plasma at one of the remaining Galactic Federation Security Officers, a human who was no older than twenty-two Earth years old. The officer, who was not even wearing any power armor, was instantly flash-fried by Ridley's plasma breath, leaving only a charred skeleton behind. He was dead before he could scream. The Space Dragon then turned to the other remaining security officers, one of Mauk's people, who looked barely old enough to be a legal adult, and opened his mouth. Ridley bit down on the alien and bit him in half. The prisoners gasped in horror at the grisly scene as Ridley devoured the remains of the officer. Ridley then turned to one of the prisoners huddled in a corner, guarded by a quartet of Elite Pirate Troopers. Ridley scanned the crowd of prisoners, who mostly consisted of civilians, even a few children. Ridley saw a young human girl, no older than five, with a look of absolute terror on her face as he turned to face her. Ridley gave a sadistic grin as he pointed towards the girl and told a Pirate underling, "Her. I want her. She'll be delicious." That last bit was said with a sneer directed towards the girl.

The Pirate was about to bring the girl towards Ridley when an unarmored Zebesian Space Pirate came rushing into the building, gasping for breath. "Lord Ridley," he called frantically. "We've just received word from sentries on the perimeter. The Hunter has come down onto the planet!"

This caught Ridley off guard. "Samus? Here?" he almost stammered, caught off guard by the warning. He had detected her ship nearly enter the atmosphere, but he had anticipated that the presence of the _Chimera_ had chased off her ship since it fled the planet. Apparently, Samus must have had someone else piloting her ship and jump away while she dove through the atmosphere and dropped to the surface. "Get everyone to their positions!" he commanded. "Have the Space Pirate Militiamen on the front lines. We may as well have them sacrifice themselves against the Hunter. I also want at least a dozen Elite guards and higher here keeping watch over the prisoners." He then turned to a Space Pirate Commander who was keeping a group of young prisoners who had been too clever and too rowdy for their own good in line. "Commander He'eirsh, I'm leaving you in command of the prisoners and the Elite forces here. Make sure that we get the Chozo biotech information to the transport. We need that information, no matter the cost. Everything else is secondary. I'll search for Samus. There's no way our defenses in the tunnels will be sufficient to take her down."

"Understood, Lord Ridley," Commander He'eirsh replied. "You four," he barked towards four Elite Space Pirate Troopers, "Take charge of the Specialty Squads and set up defensive perimeters around the colony."

"Yes sir," the four Elite Space Pirates responded. As the other Space Pirates went to carry out their orders, Ridley left the building. As he went outside, he spread his wings and took off into the air like a rocket. It had been far too long since he had taken off in an unrestricted area. Flying through space just was not the same as flying through an atmosphere or taking off from the ground. He flew up to the top of a tall communications tower and stood at the top, peering down at the rest of the colony, keeping a sharp eye out for his nemesis, Samus Aran. It was now that he hated her mother more than ever for saving her from his attack all those years ago on Earth Colony K-2L. "This time, Samus, I _will_ kill you," he rumbled softly.

Back in outer space, Samus Aran's gunship hurtled through warp piloted by Mauk, with Kreatz sitting at the makeshift copilot's station. Samus's two friends carefully focused on the map screen. The timer counted down to the origin of the second Baby's Cry. They were still several minutes away from their destination. They leaned back into their seats and Kreatz went to fiddle with some controls and programs in the gunship's computer. He checked to see what music she had stored inside the computer. He found that she had little personal effects stored in her computer. He grimaced. "Man, doesn't Samus have any entertainment on this gunship of hers?"

"Who knows?" Mauk answered with a sigh. "She wasn't exactly a music or story collector even when serving in the Galactic Federation."

"Yeah, but she's got nothing in here except tech manuals and specs for various bases, like the destroyed Tallon IV base, or the base on Zebes."

Mauk gave a chuckle. "Well, I hope you like studying outdated information."

Kreatz let out a groan. He sat forward and thought about his friend. It had been a while since he had heard anything from her. He had not been worried too much, though. After the Phazon Crisis, the Federation had deliberated about what to do about Metroids. Once it had been decided that the Metroids were to be exterminated, he knew that it was only a matter of time until Samus was hired to eliminate the Metroid threat. Still, given the recent death of Adam Malkovich, he was worried about how Samus would take the death of her father figure. He turned to Mauk and then asked, "Hey Mauk, how would you classify Samus's mental state given what you saw?"

"I think that she's fine given the fact that she just found out that Adam died," Mauk responded. "She's not suicidal or anything, if that's what you're worried about."

Mauk's answer gave Kreatz little comfort. He knew that humans were often affected by the loss of friends and loved ones, but how they reacted to the loss varied greatly between the individual. After the deaths of her parents, and the leaving of the Chozo, Adam, him, and Mauk were the only family Samus really had. And now, Adam had recently died, and Samus had not been there to help him in his time of need. Kreatz and Mauk had no idea how she would respond to these events.

After a few minutes of silence, a chime sounded throughout the cockpit of the gunship. Mauk leaned forward and scanned the console display. "Looks like we're coming up on the source of that signal," Mauk called over to his companion.

Kreatz then leaned forward and took his station. In the pilot's seat, Mauk checked the countdown timer as it counted down from ten seconds. As the clock counted down, Mauk placed his hand on the lever that would disengage the warp drive of Samus's gunship. Once the timer reached zero, Mauk pulled the lever and the ship reverted back into normal space. Back in normal space, the Hunter-class gunship was pelted by small pieces of metal. The metal glanced off of the hull of the gunship as it flew through the small debris field towards a large metallic block in the distance.

Inside the cockpit, Kreatz jumped at the sounds of the metallic pieces of the distant metallic cube pelting Samus's gunship. Mauk calmly raised the shields of the ship and the next piece that struck the ship caused a blue field of energy to form upon impact, the shields preventing the metal from striking the ship. Kreatz quickly checked his console for any reports of damage. So far, all systems were functioning within normal parameters. He checked on the condition of the hull and found that it was at one hundred percent. It appeared as if the impacts caused no damage to the ship. The elf-like humanoid breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that they had not scratched Samus's gunship. If her ship had suffered any damage, he was worried that the two of them would be footing the bill for its repairs. "Don't worry Mauk," Kreatz told his friend, "We didn't scratch her ship." When no response was forthcoming, he looked over to his friend and asked, "What is it?"

"Look," Mauk replied, pointing outside the cockpit.

Kreatz looked forward and saw the large metallic cube floating off in the distance. They both stared at the large cube in the distance and did not move for a few moments. Eventually, Kreatz asked, "What do you think that is?"

"I don't know," Mauk responded. "Let's find out." He proceeded to activate the sensors and scanned the metallic cube. After a few seconds, data readouts on the metallic cube came in and appeared on the screen in front of him. They also appeared on the screen in front of Kreatz as well. On several of the real time images that appeared showed the words _Sector Zero_, and _Bo..le S..p_. The letters were blurred and scraped off of the hull, but the two could make out what it was supposed to say, _Bottle Ship_. The two glanced at each other in disbelief.

"No way," they both said in unison.

"I thought that Sector Zero had been destroyed," Kreatz said. "I mean that's how Adam died, right?"

"Apparently not," Mauk replied. A thought soon came to the two of them.

"Scan the interior of Sector Zero," Kreatz practically ordered Mauk.

While ordering someone who would have been considered a superior officer would normally have been frowned upon in the military, Kreatz was a police officer for now, and Mauk was a friend, and did not mind anyway. "We'll have to get closer for a more detailed scan if there are jammers or the thing is shielded, but I should be able to get clear scans of whatever is onboard that cube," Mauk told his friend.

The two of them took the gunship closer to Sector Zero in order to get more detailed scans of the metallic cube. Once they were within about ten kilometers of the cube, the sensors were able to get more detailed scans of the structure. It was about five hundred meters long, and three hundred meters wide. It was significantly smaller than the _Bottle Ship_, from what the two companions knew, but it was still an imposing sight. Both Kreatz and Mauk took a look at the sensor screens and their eyes went wide at what they saw on them. The sensors indicated the presence of thousands of lifeforms onboard the metal cube. They did not know what the Desbrachians, Kyratians, and Rhedogians were, so they did not know what to make of them, but they were very much aware of what the Zebesian Space Pirates, Cyborg Zebesian Space Pirates, Metroids, an Aurora-class organic supercomputer, and the single human were.

"Man, are you reading this Mauk?" Kreatz asked with a mixture of awe and horror.

"Yes, I am," Mauk responded, echoing Kreatz's sentiments.

"So, what now?"

"We check it out," Mauk answered. "I'm taking us in."

"Shouldn't we contact Samus?" Kreatz asked. "She should know that we've found that the origin of this Baby's Cry signal is Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Mauk asked. "Adam was onboard Sector Zero when it detached. We don't need her to be even more distracted than she likely already is."

"She'll be more distracted worrying about us if we don't report in," Kreatz countered.

Mauk considered his friend's argument and soon found that it had its merits. "Alright," Mauk eventually conceded. "But I'm making it short, and I'm not telling her about what's onboard that station…not yet."

Kreatz then went over to the radio and activated the subspace radio. After typing in a few commands and locking onto Samus's signal, he spoke into the radio, saying, "Samus, this is Kreatz, come in."

Kreatz waited for Samus's answer. After a few seconds of silence, Samus's voice crackled in over the radio, "I'm here Kreatz, go ahead." Kreatz then heard the sound of weapons fire and an explosion. Given the pitch of whine coming in over the radio, Kreatz figured that Samus had charged a Power Beam shot. The distinctive high to low pitch sound indicated that Samus had unleashed the blast upon some unfortunate target. The distinctive screech that came in over the radio must have been a Space Pirate receiving the full brunt of the blast.

"Are you alright, Samus?" Kreatz asked. "I hear sounds of fighting."

"I'm in the middle of a firefight with a squadron of Space Pirate Troopers, and some Shield Troopers, too. Make it quick!"

"We've just arrived at the source of the Baby's Cry and have found that it is Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_.

"Sector Zero's intact?" Samus asked over the comm. Kreatz could almost hear a hint of hope in her voice.

"Apparently," Kreatz replied. "We are about to board the station to investigate further."

More sounds of fighting came in over the radio. The sound of a missile being launched echoed throughout the gunship. The explosion that then sounded drowned out the cry of an unfortunate Space Pirate that had been blown to pieces by the missile. Samus's response then came through, "Good. Don't forget about my secret compartment with the weapons. Take whatever you need from there with you for when you investigate. Call me if you find anything important onboard or if you need my help." More gunfire sounded over the radio.

"It seems as if you have your hands full," Kreatz noted.

"It's nothing I can't handle," came Samus's response. "Don't worry about me. Just see if you can find any survivors onboard." There was a pause before Samus spoke again, "Did you guys scan to see if there were any survivors onboard?"

_Oh no_, Kreatz thought with doom. He did not want to burden Samus with the potential of knowing that there could be human survivors onboard that station. It was Mauk who gave an answer, "There's some sort of sensor scrambler onboard the station," he lied, doing his best to make his voice sound natural. "We can't get any clear readings. All we know is that there are massive lifeform readings onboard."

_Good_, Kreatz thought. Samus should buy Mauk's explanation. He also hoped that the pause before the answer would pass for the two of them glancing down at the sensors before making their response and not them having to come up with a lie. It was reasonable to expect something like that onboard a black ops project station, and Mauk was good at sounding natural when things were getting intense, or when he was lying. They did not want Samus to be even more distracted than she already was when fighting the Space Pirates.

"All the same, contact me if you find anything or need any help. I'll do my best to rejoin you if you need me as soon as possible," she told them.

"Will do," both Kreatz and Mauk answered. They then cut the radio and proceeded to carefully search for a hatch or landing area where they could land. After flying around the perimeter of the station, they eventually found a small hangar bay. They then proceeded to take the ship towards the landing bay.

Back on Z-1A Samus stood around the remains of the Space Pirate Trooper squadron that had attacked her. She looked straight ahead at the metallic crate. At the back of her mind, she could not help but think that Kreatz and Mauk were hiding something from her. What it was, she did not know, and did not want to think about, yet. She then returned her focus on the metallic crate. She activated her Scan Visor and scanned its interior, finding a Grapple Beam Upgrade. She made her way to the crate, knelt down and carefully opened it, not blasting it open with her beam for fear of damaging the Grapple Beam in the process. After a minute or so, she managed to pry open the crate and grabbed the Grapple Beam Upgrade for her suit. Immediately, the upgrade attached itself to her suit's left arm and it integrated itself into the systems of her suit. This must have been a superior version of the upgrade compared to others, for this one combined the Grapple Beam, Grapple Lasso, and Grapple Voltage all in one upgrade. And it just so happened that an Advanced Pirate Shield Trooper had arrived for Samus to test out this upgrade on.

Samus grinned as she extended her left arm and a yellow energy beam erupted from the gray Grapple Beam Launcher on the underside of her left arm. The purple beam connected with the energy shield that the Space Pirate was holding in front of him to protect himself from her other weaponry. The beam turned blue as Samus drew energy from the shield into herself, replenishing her energy in the process, and draining the shield of the Pirate, all the while restoring her own. Once the Pirate's shield was drained, she continued to drain the energy of the hapless Pirate, himself. After several seconds of the Pirate attempting to resist her attack, the Pirate fell over onto the ground, either unconscious or dead. A few uncharged shots from Samus's Power Beam made the Pirate's fate certain. Once the Pirate had been dealt with, Samus proceeded to make her way further through the tunnel, and closer to the colony.

Back in space, Kreatz and Mauk guided Samus's gunship into the hangar of Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_. The initial scans indicated that the small hangar was not infested with any other lifeform, yet. That would give them a good safe haven where they could take their time and study the layout of the floating metallic cube before making any sudden moves. The small gunship soon entered the small hangar and hovered as soon as it was a few meters away from the door. Indeed, the hangar bay looked more like a cargo storage area than a hangar bay, for the ship was only a few meters from the hatch, which was now closing. There was still enough room to maneuver, but it was a very tight fit inside the bay.

Mauk eased the craft down and dust was thrown up by the thrust of the landing jets as the ship ever so slowly descended until it touched the ground. Upon contact with the ground, the ship shuddered and a clank echoed throughout the cockpit. Mauk gave a smile as soon as the ship had touched down. He proceeded to power down the engines and other major systems as Kreatz went back to the secret weapons compartment beneath the floor of the ship that Samus had showed them earlier. Upon opening the compartment, he let out a whistle as his eyes went wide with surprise, and glee. He felt as if he had been given what the humans termed a Christmas present, for inside the compartment were all kinds of weaponry from old Space Pirate Galvanic Accelerator Cannons, to Quantum Assault Cannons. She also had numerous Federation guns and cannons, from the freeze guns used by Federation Army Troopers, to plasma cannons used by the same troopers, to assault rifles and missile launchers utilized by Galactic Federation Marines. Samus even had a pair of Photonic Power Scythes in the compartment as well.

"Mauk, you've gotta come back here and check this out," Kreatz exclaimed. "Samus has got an arsenal in here."

Once landing procedures had been completed, Mauk left the pilot's seat and proceeded to the aft section of the ship where Kreatz was rummaging around the weapons compartment. Mauk took a look and saw all of the weapons that were there. His own experience allowed him to recognize the Space Pirate and Galactic Federation weapons, along with some unfamiliar weapons that were likely Chozo in origin. One such weapon was a large, pole-like device that seemed to be similar to an energy rifle or an energy cannon of some sort. Mauk remembered using such a weapon during the Space Pirate Wars shortly before Samus's first return to Zebes. They both also took note of the grenades that Samus had stored inside her ship.

"It looks like Samus has been stockpiling weapons for war," Mauk noted.

"Or she was gathering weapons for the off chance that she needed some stronger weapons should her Power Suit malfunction and she be stuck without it on a hostile world," Kreatz offered.

"That too," Mauk agreed, nodding.

"Come on, let's get as much of this stuff as we can carry," Kreatz said, taking a couple of holsters that housed energy pistols of unknown origin. "We might also want to take along some side arms just in case we run into survivors and they don't have any weapons of their own."

"I agree," Mauk replied, taking a couple more energy pistols as well.

The two of them then searched the remaining weapons to see what they would find, and what would be best suited for a rescue mission like the one they were about to embark upon. Mauk was the first to take the Chozo Assault Rifle, the pole-like cannon that had the firepower to shoot down unshielded starfighters with single shots. Mauk also took a freeze gun for backup as well. Mauk took a Galactic Federation Plasma Cannon, and a freeze gun to augment his energy whips. Both Kreatz and Mauk also took out one grenade belt; each one fitted with six grenades, three seemingly anti-personnel fragmentation, three anti-vehicle photon or plasma, and strapped the belts over their chests. For the last bit of weaponry, they both took a Quantum Assault Cannon for their right forearms and a Photonic Power Scythe for their left forearms to function as their close combat weapons, for they did not want to be caught in the middle of a fight only to find out that they had run out of ammunition or energy for their weapons. Mauk also brought along his two shoulder mounted plasma cannons as well to add even more firepower to his arsenal. While the two of them were on a rescue mission, they looked like they were ready to go to war, for they knew that they would have to go through an entire army in order to reach any potential survivors. The last thing they took were two bio-scanners to try to trace the location of the human survivor, and so they could store any data on what else was out there, friend or foe. Once they were fully equipped, the two soldiers went to the hatch and lowered themselves to the floor of the cargo bay. Once they had reached the floor, they drew out their freeze guns and proceeded towards the door that separated them from the many monsters that they would be facing on the interior of the station.

Meanwhile, in another sector of space, the other Samus Aran's gunship shot through subspace, making its way towards _Research Facility 777_. Samus listened to some soothing classical music while studying the schematics and the plans for the main assault of the _G.F.S. Hermes_ on the research facility. The death of Adam Malkovich was weighing heavily on her mind. She had been helpless to save him. She vowed that she would not be so helpless ever again. She also remembered her other friends and family members that had died. She remembered her parents, Gray Voice, Rundas, Ghor, Gandrayda, and others. As she thought about them, she fought back some tears.

As Samus continued to think back on her friends when a chime sounded in the cockpit of her ship. Samus glanced over at the monitor and found that they were coming up on the location of _Research Facility 777_. Before jumping back into normal space, she activated the stealth systems of her gunship. After doing so, when the countdown timer reached zero, she jumped her ship back into normal space.

Once the ship jumped back into normal space, she deactivated her external sensor systems, weapons, and shields. She did not want to risk the station managing to detect the power generated from those systems or any sensor scans. According to the plan, Samus would land in the hangar bay of the ship and would then destroy any and all escape craft. Her second mission would be to hack into any security systems onboard the station and disable them. In addition, she would also disable the station's weapons and defenses, rendering it helpless. She would also attempt to retrieve any data to bring back to the Federation as evidence of the crimes of the people that the occupants on the research station performed. The _Hermes_ would jump to the station the moment Samus took out the station's defenses and latch onto the weakest part of the hull of the station and burn its way through. Meanwhile, the _Medusa_ would latch onto another part of the station and cut its way through as well. The boarding parties would then storm the station engage any hostile forces and work their way through the ship, with reinforcements coming from the _Loki_ to assist in the capture, or execution, if necessary, of any remaining personnel onboard the station.

Samus slowed her approach towards the station. Without a cloaking device, she wanted to make sure that her ship would not be detected until she managed she was nearly on the hull, itself, and slowing down so as to be able to land safely on the station. She fired her maneuvering thrusters, giving a short burst as she maneuvered her ship into a straight line towards the corridor that led to the hangar bay. As the ship began its approach, she went into the back of her ship and equipped newly upgraded versions of the Ice, Wave, and Plasma Beams. These versions were significantly more powerful than her current beam arsenal. There were also a few more Missile Tanks, increasing her total to one hundred and twenty missiles. She also equipped these new Missile Tanks, along with her newly enhanced Missile Launcher. She filled the new Missile Launcher with enhanced missiles and Super Missiles even more powerful than the ones that she was already using. Once she was finished upgrading her arsenal, she returned to the cockpit and sat back down in her chair to finish guiding the ship to the station.

The ship slowly drifted towards the hangar. Samus hoped that the lack of power to the engines made certain that the sensors on the station would not detect her ship's engine trail or any spike in energy onboard her ship. She watched carefully to see if there was any change in the station's actions. They noticed several defense cannons onboard the station, as well as a couple of round tubes that looked like they could be housing missiles. The ship closed the distance between itself and the hangar bay after several seconds. It was not long before her ship made its way into the hangar bay.

Inside the hangar bay, she found lines of fighters and escape transports on the floor, along with several Army Troopers and technicians working on the ships. She took great care to land her ship in an empty space. Once she had landed and powered down her ship, she proceeded to charge her Plasma Beam and scan the exterior of her ship as Army Troopers approached, pointing their weapons at her ship. She then went to the upper hatch of her ship and sprang out of her ship, targeting the nearest of the Army Troopers and fired, unleashing her fully charged Plasma Beam blast upon the unfortunate trooper. The plasma blast, and subsequent explosion, annihilated the trooper. The other Army Troopers, knowing that their normal weapons would be useless against her, quickly drew their freeze guns, targeted Samus, and opened fire. Samus used her sense-move ability to dodge the incoming fire and she took several shots at the Army Troopers. Some of the shots managed to strike the troopers, felling them with single hits, but others missed entirely and struck any of the numerous ships that were inside the hangar bay. The remaining troopers took aim at Samus and opened fire again. Samus managed to sense-move out of the way of most of the shots, but some of the blasts managed to connect, each one taking out units of energy. Samus retaliated by taking aim at each of the remaining Army Troopers and fired a volley of shots at each trooper. Most of the shots managed to connect with the troopers and they fell over, smoking holes burned into their torsos.

Once the Army Troopers were dead, the technicians that were present attempted to run to the security alarms to alert the rest of the station that there were intruders onboard the station. "No, don't do it!" Samus half ordered, half begged the technicians. She did not want to have to kill them but in order to ensure the success of this mission with the fewest Federation casualties as possible, she felt as if she had no choice. She took aim at the technicians and shot each of them once. She targeted their upper torsos and heads so that their deaths would be as painless as possible. After a few seconds, the battle was finally over. The bodies of more than a dozen Army Troopers and technicians littered the floor. Samus scanned the security system and found that the technicians had not managed to get off an alert to the Control Center. She soon got to work accomplishing her primary objective for the invasion. Samus soon transformed into her Morph Ball form and rolled over to the nearest Evacuation Transport. She then activated a Power Bomb and unleashed it upon the transport. The Power Bomb soon exploded and engulfed the transport in a massive field of energy. The transport was practically vaporized by the blast and little more than a large, black burn mark remained. She then rolled over to a second transport and once her systems had cooled down enough, she powered a second Power Bomb. Once the Power Bomb was ready, she dropped it and the second transport soon met the same fate as the first. Samus then finished off the two remaining Evacuation Transports in the same fashion.

Once the final transport was destroyed, Samus transformed back into her normal form and focused on the line of eight fighters both on the ground, as well as on racks and launchers above. Samus readied her missiles and took aim at the first of the fighters, small fighters that were dwarfed by the newer Stiletto-class fighter in use by the Federation Navy. These fighters resembled old Earth atmospheric fighters in shape, but were much smaller. They did not even have any warp drive. As such, these ships were not designed to be escape ships. However, Samus did not want to take any chances, here. She unleashed her missile and it streaked towards the fighter. The missile struck the inactive fighter and blew it apart with only one hit. Metal littered the hangar bay floor as the fighter was destroyed. Samus then followed suit with the seven remaining fighters, destroying them with a single missile, each.

After the fighters were destroyed, Samus glanced at her suit's displays. She only had one hundred and twelve missiles left; more than enough for dealing with any other enemies that would be found onboard. She had taken a few hits from the Freeze Guns, and had lost over fifty units of energy, but she things could be worse. She could just rearm onboard her ship, which she proceeded to do.

Once she emerged from the ship, again, Samus went to the security console in the hangar bay. Her suit powered down for a second and fingers soon swept over the console and buttons on the console lit up as she hacked into the security systems. She then proceeded to shut down the security systems, though she had the system give false reports, indicating that everything was okay. After that was finished, she proceeded to shut down the defensive systems and weapons array of the station. Once everything was finished, she opened a channel to the _Loki_, _Hermes_, and _Medusa_, saying, "It's done. The station's weapons, defenses, and security systems are disabled. You're good to go."

"Good job Aran. Remain in the bay until we arrive. We don't need them being alerted to any trouble," the voice of General Mansfield crackled in over the comm.

"Understood, sir," Samus answered, as she waited for the rest of the assault force to arrive.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Back on Z-1A, Samus Aran continued to make her way through the tunnels through the hills that the Space Pirates had dug for themselves, likely in order to make a path to the exterior of the small archeological colony. She continued to make her way through the tunnel, stopping at every entrance to larger openings and underground rooms, not wanting to let any Space Pirates ambush her. She had more than enough power to deal with any Pirates foolish enough to come at her, but she still wanted to be careful. She did not live this long as a Bounty Hunter by taking foolish risks. Seeing that the room was clear, she stepped into the room.

This room was different from many of the others. Instead of the normal empty spaces with rock walls surrounding them, this room had a table situated right in the middle of the room. On the side of the table lay a computer monitor and keyboard. As Samus continued to walk through the room, she scanned her surroundings and noticed several computer consoles in the corners of the room. Several of them had holograms on top of the keyboards, indicating that they were not Galactic Federation in origin.

Samus first approached the table and used her Scan Visor to hack into the computer in order to access its information. Once she had hacked into the computer, she automatically downloaded all of the data to her logbook. A cursory glance at the data told her that it was full of Chozo history and how they had come to this planet and placed several artifacts on this world. Not wanting to waste any time right now to studying the lore, she continued on to the other computers in the room and downloaded the data to her logbook. She would take the time to read them once the Space Pirate threat had been wiped out. Once she was finished, she made her way out of the room and continued towards the colony.

In the next corridor, she saw a data screen on the side of the wall. She approached the screen and read that it was a collection of Chozo data, as well as a map of the entire network of caves and tunnels. She found that the Space Pirates had not created most of these tunnels. Neither had the Federation. Instead, these tunnels had been made by the Chozo over a thousand years ago. After she had downloaded the data, Samus continued to make her way through the corridor. Near the end of the corridor, she saw a Space Pirate Commando, fully clad in black armor with gray highlights and an enclosed helmet barring her way. These Pirates were designed to "hunt the Hunter", as the Space Pirates put it. They were armed with an arm cannon on their right arms, an EMP grenade launcher mounted on their right shoulders, and shields that could deflect physical projectiles. They had first appeared on Aether, though they were no match for her, even after being possessed by the Ing. Back then, Samus had access to the Dark Beam, and once entangled in the Dark Beam, she could shatter them with a missile, regardless of their shields. She decided to test that strategy with her Ice Beam.

The Pirate Commando took aim at Samus and opened fire on her, spraying a series of golden energy bolts towards her. The tight confines of the corridor ensured that the Commando would score a few hits on Samus. The fact that she was limited to her Power Suit meant that she took more damage than she remembered taking on Aether. The Commando also powered an energy dagger and powered his dash jet system. He then charged straight towards Samus at blazing speeds that would be nearly impossible for a normal human to track. Samus, however, having been enhanced with Chozo DNA, was saw the Space Pirate Commando rocketing towards her and dove out of the way, and underneath his dagger swipe, once the Pirate saw that she would dodge his initial charge. Samus, just as quickly as the Commando had charged her, turned around and charged her Ice Beam. After two seconds, it was fully charged and she unleashed the Charged Ice Shot at the Pirate Commando. The Charged Shot struck the Commando and instantly froze him solid. Wasting no time, Samus switched to her missiles and fired a single missile at the frozen Pirate. The missile struck the Pirate Commando and exploded, shattering the Pirate in the process. With that threat out of the way, Samus proceeded down the rest of the corridor and towards a door at the end of the hallway. When she reached the door, she found a door with a red energy barrier raised over the entrance. Samus immediately readied a missile and fired it at the door. The missile struck the red screen and shattered the energy barrier. Samus approached the door and it slid open.

Inside the room, there was a large bird-like statue at the center of the room. It resembled the many Chozo Statues that had been all throughout Zebes, and other planets such as Tallon IV. It was also resembled a Torizo, a statue-like enemy that she had fought on her second mission to Zebes. It held out an orange ball with a stylized "S" in its right hand. Samus could tell that the ball likely housed an upgrade of some sort. The room was also devoid of enemies, which put Samus on guard. There was no way such a valuable piece of technology would be left unguarded. Sure enough, as Samus approached the chamber, a Space Pirate Commander appeared directly in front of her. This was the first time she had encountered Commanders that were not using Phazon weaponry. This Commander was wearing a fully enclosed suit with multiple layers of armor. The helmet was green and had three antennae-like spikes protruding above it. The shoulders of the suit also had metallic spikes protruding from them. The armor over his legs and arms was dark blue to almost black. His chest plate was blue and resembled Phazite, though she knew that it was not made of Phazite since Phazite had been a derivative of Phazon, a substance that had vanished and been rendered inert once the planet of its origin, Phaaze, had been destroyed. Chances were, though, that the Pirate Commander still had powerful weaponry and defenses. Samus raised her arm cannon and took aim at the Pirate Commander as he approached her.

"Hunter," the Pirate Commander grunted. Samus thought she could hear a note of satisfaction and anticipation. "Today, you die."

The Space Pirate then let loose an ear-piercing scream and immediately, four Space Pirate Commandos appeared in front of him. Samus grimaced. She knew that the Pirate Commander would not make this easy. The Commander then disappeared, and reappeared at the other end of the room. Samus could hear the doors clank shut and golden fields of energy appear over them. These fields of energy could only be breached by Power Bombs, which she did not have at the moment. Samus knew from her earlier encounters with Space Pirate Commanders that they would hide out until they had exhausted all of their reinforcements. Then, they would attack. She knew that she would have to deal with these first waves since the Pirate Commander still had tough defenses and she had no Phazon Hyper Mode to make the fight easier. Samus charged her Ice Beam and then prepared to fire a shot from her Ice Spreader. The Pirate Commandos broke off into teams of two, which made them more difficult to take down quickly, since they would be wise to her trick fairly quickly. The problem was that she knew that their weapons were powerful, and against a large group of Pirate Commandos, she could be worn down fairly quickly.

Samus began the fight by targeting the nearest pair of Space Pirate Commandos. The Pirates jumped around and took aim at Samus with their energy cannons. Golden pulses of energy erupted from their guns and targeted Samus. Samus danced out of their way as she fired her Ice Spreader at the approaching pair, who were most fortuitously joined by the second pair of Commandos, who took this opportunity to open fire on Samus. A few blasts of energy managed to strike Samus's suit and inflicted seven points of damage per hit, but it was of little consequence compared to the damage the Space Pirate Commandos were about to receive. Her Ice Spreader shot soon reached the Pirate Commandos and detonated, exploding into a field of freezing energy. The entire Commando squad was frozen by the attack. Samus then fired a single missile at the ice block and watched as the missile shattered the block, and the Pirate Commandos trapped inside.

The Space Pirate Commander, not wanting any part of Samus without backup, called in another squadron of Space Pirate Commandos. These were outfitted identically to the Commandos that Samus had just fought. These, however, were quickly joined by their Commander, who appeared in their midst and powered a shot from his energy cannon. Samus quickly moved to her right as she charged her Ice Beam again. The Pirate Commander's shot missed Samus by inches as she barely avoided his massively powerful blast of blue plasma. Samus proceeded to fire a blast from her Ice Spreader once more at the Pirate Commander. The Ice Spreader blast rocketed towards the Commander and he did not move to avoid it. The blast struck him and exploded in an expanding field of icy energy. The Pirate Commander leaned backwards due to the force of the impact, but otherwise seemed to be unharmed. Most of the Space Pirate Commandos did not stick around to watch their commander withstand Samus's blast. One, however, had not moved fast enough and was encased in ice by Samus's attack. Samus quickly finished off this Space Pirate Commando with a single missile, shattering him.

The other Space Pirate Commandos were not idle, though. One Pirate Commando used his dash jet system and struck Samus from behind with an energy dagger. This attack knocked off a fair bit of energy from her Energy Tank, around twenty units. Samus quickly retaliated by charging a shot from her Ice Beam. Constantly in motion, so as to avoid any more sneak attacks from other Pirates using their dash jet systems and other weapons, who were already launching failed attacks on her, Samus unleashed the Ice Beam shot at the Commando. The beam moved slowly, relative to her other beam weapons, but managed to strike the Pirate Commando and encase him in ice. Samus finished off this Commando with another missile. Two down, two to go.

Samus then scanned the room to search for the other Pirate Commandos and the Pirate Commander when she noticed an EMP grenade land in front of her. Samus dove away from the grenade as it detonated. While she avoided most of the blast, some of the energy managed to seep through and disrupt her visor. Static appeared in front of her and she could barely make out the shapes of two Space Pirate Commandos and the Pirate Commander opening fire on her. She quickly transformed into her Morph Ball mode and rocketed towards them using her Boost Ball ability, managing to dodge their initial volley of energy blasts. She was pleasantly surprised that it was still functional. She laid down Morph Ball Bombs along her path and hoped that the Pirate Commandos would follow her and run into the balls. In answer to her prayers, the Pirates did, indeed, run into her Morph Ball Bombs and the bombs detonated in blue rings of energy. However, the bombs did little more to the Pirates than knock them back for a second. That second was all Samus needed, though to transform back to her normal form and charge another Ice Beam shot. Once the beam was charged, she used the missile combo and fired another Ice Spreader shot. The expanding blast of ice headed towards the Space Pirates, who did not notice the incoming attack until it was too late. The Space Pirate Commander did not have to worry about being frozen by the blast, but the same could not be said for his two underlings. By the time they noticed the blast of ice heading towards them, it was nearly on them. They attempted to activate their dash jet systems in order to avoid the Ice Spreader shot, but they were too slow. The Ice Spreader blast struck them and exploded, encasing them in ice. Samus then fired a single missile at the block of ice and shattered it, along with the Pirates. That left only Samus and the Commander, though Samus did not think for a second that the Pirate Commander would not summon more reinforcements.

The Pirate Commander then came right at Samus, firing volley after volley of shots from his heavy energy cannon. Only one of the blasts managed to strike Samus, but it managed to take off sixteen units of energy from her Energy Tank. She still had fifteen more Energy Tanks, though, so she was not too worried. Frankly, she was surprised that she was having as easy a time against them as she was. Samus then used her scan visor to scan the Pirate Commander and found that he had suffered greater damage than she had initially believed. She quickly powered a Super Missile and unleashed it against the Space Pirate Commander. The missile rocketed towards the Commander and before he could dodge it, it struck him and exploded. The explosion forced the Pirate Commander backwards and took down his shields, damaging his armor in the process. Samus powered another Super Missile and fired at the staggered Pirate Commander. One more missile should be sufficient to finish him off. The missile streaked towards the Pirate Commander and detonated. The detonation blew apart the Space Pirate Commander, metallic shards raining down on the floor around her.

After the battle had concluded, Samus activated her Scan Visor and scanned the Chozo Statue in the center of the room. She did not want to take any chances of it being a trap, or a Torizo. The scan read; _Chozo Statue built more than a thousand years ago by the ancient Chozo people._ Samus then scanned the ball in the hand of the Chozo Statue. It read; _Varia Suit Upgrade_. Samus then deactivated her Scan Visor and approached the ball. As she arrived, she placed her left hand on the ball. As she did so, a field of golden energy surrounded Samus. She saw her Energy Tanks and Missile Tanks being replenished. Her suit also underwent a visual change. Large globes now sat on top of the shoulders of Samus's Power, now Varia Suit. The globes did not impede the movement of Samus's arms too much compared to her Power Suit. And since Samus rarely entered hand-to-hand combat inside her suit, it was no big loss. And it was more than offset by the massive defensive increase granted by the Varia Suit's new shields and stronger armor. Her defenses were now twice as strong as they had previously been. With her new Varia Suit on, Samus continued to trek through the tunnels and get to the colony before the Pirates looted it and killed everyone there.

Back on Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_, Kreatz and Mauk were engaged in a fight of their own against two butterfly-like enemies with cocoons on their backs known as Desbrachians, though they did not know the name of the enemies at the time. The Desbrachians, while lacking any ranged weaponry, were still forces to be reckoned with for Kreatz and Mauk. The shredded Cyborg Zebesian Space Pirate corpse lying at their feet that had been unceremoniously rent asunder when the two entered showed them how dangerous the creatures were. Kreatz and Mauk did their best to remain a good distance away from the creatures, for they were able to cover a great deal of space very quickly. Mauk continued to open fire with his large Chozo Assault Energy Rifle on the creatures, while Mauk used his Plasma Cannon to deal with the other. Despite already having sustained several direct hits from both weapons, the creatures were still able to fight, though the two Federation soldiers could tell that they were beginning to look a little ragged. Still, the two were amazed by the resilience of their enemies, and thankful at the Desbrachians' lack of ranged weapons and attacks.

"Man, what does it take to take one of these things down?" Kreatz asked exasperatedly.

"I don't know," Mauk answered, "just keep firing. I think we're doing _some_ damage. Just don't let those things close in on us!"

Kreatz agreed with Mauk. He could see that the Desbrachians were beginning to look weathered. Still, they were not going down fast enough for their liking. Kreatz decided that he had had enough of using his Plasma Cannon and decided to use his laser whips against the two creatures. He drew two batons and he pushed a switch on them. Immediately, two orange energy whips appeared and fell to the ground. He whirled the whips above his head and then whipped them forward, sweeping them across the charging Desbrachians. The ends of his whips curled around the Desbrachians and held them in place. Mauk then proceeded to unload a volley of energy blasts from his Chozo Assault Rifle as well as volley of bolts from his shoulder mounted plasma cannons. Kreatz also joined in with several shots from his wrist mounted Quantum Assault Cannons. After several seconds of sustained fire from their weapons, the two Desbrachians were finally felled. After they had fallen, Kreatz went up to them and fired a few more blasts into their heads, just to make sure that they were dead.

Once they were certain that the creatures were dead, they continued on their journey through the station. Kreatz looked down at his scanner and found that the human life sign was moving. "Mauk, he's moving away from us," Kreatz alerted his friend.

"I see it," Mauk responded. "It looks like he's trying to get to what I think is the Command Center."

Mauk quickly checked the map that he had downloaded in the room before they had entered this Desbrachian infested room. As he expected, indeed, the human was headed towards the main reactor. "How far?" Kreatz asked.

"Three levels down," Mauk answered. "The reactor is on the other side of the sector, though. He'll likely have to go through several rooms and corridors to reach it."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Kreatz exclaimed. "Let's get to him before he gets himself killed or something!"

With that, the two proceeded into the next room, ready to face whatever dangers lay before them.

In another part of the station, the blond haired woman watched as the two new arrivals cleared the room of Desbrachians. She grimaced. Her files contained records on all notable Galactic Federation personnel, whether they were consultants, engineers, police officers, or military personnel. She instantly recognized the two humanoid figures on the screen as being Kreatz, a Galactic Federation Police officer, and Commander Mauk, a Galactic Federation Marine. She attempted to find their ship, but she could not find any new entries to the station in her databanks. As such, she figured that they had entered by means of the tertiary cargo bay. She checked the map and saw that they were following Adam Malkovich, who was making his way to the Command Center. She knew what he was planning. He was planning to activate the scuttling charges from Ops. She gave a small chuckle. "So that's your plan, Commander General Malkovich. You must really want to die, then." She then stepped away from the monitor. She proceeded to make her way out of the room and proceeded to the Command Center so she could intercept Adam before he made his move.

In another part of the station, Adam Malkovich ended the threat of a Desbrachian with one final shot from his freeze gun just before the Desbrachian had sliced him in half with one of its claws. The blast from the freeze gun encased the butterfly-like enemy in a block of ice, which he shattered with a burst of fire from his assault rifle. The bullets tore through the ice block and caused it to collapse onto the floor and shatter. He made his way past the scene and proceeded through the door, which took him to another section of the sector.

As he entered the corridor, he found it occupied by two Cyborg Zebesian Space Pirates. When the door opened, the two Zebesians quickly turned and found the human entering the corridor. They proceeded to open their claws and fired blue energy pulses at Adam. Upon being spotted, Adam dove to his left and the pulses sailed over his head. He drew his freeze gun and targeted the two Zebesians, firing shot after shot while rolling around on the floor. He knew that his armored suit would do little to protect him from the Space Pirate weaponry without shields. He continuously fired at the Zebesians until they were frozen solid. He then unslung his rifle and fired a volley of bullets at the frozen Pirates. The bullets promptly shattered the Pirates and their pieces fell to the ground. Adam then proceeded to the end of the corridor where there was an elevator that would take him to the lower level. As he continued, he came face to face with several Reos, enemies that looked like large moths. Adam charged through their ranks, shooting them down with his assault rifle. He soon made it to the elevator and quickly ducked inside, letting it take him to the lower floor. As he rode the elevator down, he checked his ammunition level for his assault rifle. Seeing that it was low, he ejected the nearly spent magazine and inserted a new one. He grimaced. He knew the effectiveness of projectile weapons against frozen and unarmored enemies, which was why Army troopers were given such a weapons combination. It conserved a great deal of resources that would have initially been given over to making more missiles.

Once he arrived on the lower floor, he emerged from the elevator and charged out of the room and towards a doorway that would take him into a new corridor. Here, he was accosted by more Reos. He fired into the crowd, managing to take down a few of the enemies, but more attempted to converge on him so they could devour him. A few more shots, which felled more of the giant alien moths, were enough to dissuade the others from pursuing Adam. He quickly ducked through the door and into the next corridor.

This corridor was filled with Mellas, bug-like enemies that were surrounded by fire and also resembled Reos in appearance. Adam, seeing the red highlights on the door at the end of the corridor, grimaced. He would have to kill all of the Mellas in order to advance. This would not be difficult, but it would cost him ammunition. He quickly took aim at the swarm of Mellas and opened fire. Bullets erupted from his assault rifle and tore through the fire-based enemies. The remains of the Mellas fell to the floor and clattered as they hit. Once they were all defeated, the door's red highlights changed to turquoise. Adam then walked by the remains of the Mellas and continued towards the next door, which would lead him to the Command Center. Before approaching the door, he checked the ammunition level of his assault rifle. Seeing that he was a little low, too low for comfort, he ejected the magazine and combined the bullets from other nearly spent magazines and filled his current, and only remaining, magazine to its top level. He then slammed the magazine back into his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. He then drew his freeze gun and readied himself to face whatever would be in the Command Center. Once he was ready, he made his way to the door. As he neared the door, it slid open. Adam then stepped through the door, which slid closed behind him.

In the Command Center of Sector Zero, Adam stepped out onto the deck and saw the walls of the room lined with consoles. The room was laid out much like the bridge of a starship, for there was a higher command deck with steps that led down to other workstations. Adam stepped out into the room and made his way around a wall, which declined in height until he could see that it was stairwell to the flag deck. He turned around and proceeded to make his way up the steps, holding his freeze gun forward, inching his way up, anticipating a battle at the top deck, which housed the tactical station that would allow him to activate the self-destruct of Sector Zero and accomplish what he was unable to do more than a week ago. When he reached the top of the flag deck, he saw a young woman in her late teens to early twenties with blond hair, wearing a white lab coat. Surrounding her were four brown cocoons that Adam instantly recognized as sleeping Desbrachians. Upon spotting Adam, the woman grinned menacingly. "Adam Malkovich," she greeted in a sinister tone.

"Melissa Bergman," Adam responded just as darkly.

The woman laughed at Adam's response. "Melissa Bergman was an android representation of the AI of Sector Zero onboard the _Bottle Ship_. I _am_ MB, in the form of an android, of course, the central AI of Sector Zero, and the one who controls the bioweapons here, including the ultimate weapons: unfreezable Metroids. And these Metroids _are_ unfreezable."

Adam gave the woman a scowl. "Not for long," he retorted with dark confidence. This only prompted a response from MB.

"We shall see, Adam Malkovich," she responded as two doors opened behind her and several Metroids floated out towards Adam, surrounding MB, as if to protect her from any attack. Adam knew that this fight would be an impossible fight, so he did the only thing he could. He quickly scanned for the communications console and, upon finding the console, he unslung his assault rifle and shot it. Bullets tore through the metallic console, and metallic debris and wires spilled out onto the floor.

"You should not have done that, Adam," she chided. "You may have shut down the signal, however, you were already too late. There is a search party here searching for survivors, and I will soon take over their ship and use its communications equipment in order to bring in other ships so my troops and I can take over. We will then resurrect the Space Pirates once more and do what the original Mother Brain, Ridley, Kraid, and the Space Pirates could not."

"I won't let that happen," Adam countered, pointing his freeze gun at the android woman.

"You won't have a choice," MB retorted. "I have too many weapons here for you to defeat me. Face it, you're finished." She then sneered at him.

"Not yet," was Adam's only response as he prepared for the fight of his life.

In another sector of space, on the outside of the solar system that contained _Research Facility 777_, the _G.F.S. Loki_ opened its hangar bay and the _G.F.S. Hermes_ emerged from the hangar, cloaked, itself. The cloaked transport flew away from the troopship as it closed its hangar bay doors and its presence was now masked entirely from sensors. Anthony Higgs looked in the direction of the station as the ship performed a micro-jump towards the station. The ship entered warp for a few seconds, the stars outside becoming long lines before entering subspace for a few seconds before lines once again surrounded the ship and then transformed back into stars. The only difference now was the large space station in front of them. Captain Anthony Higgs looked out at the station and went over the plans for the assault once again. The _Hermes_ would dock with the Residential Area of the Main Sector of the station while the _Medusa_ would dock near Sector Two of the station and enter through there. While Platoons 05, 06, and 07 were engaged with any of the main defenses, Platoons 08, 09, and 10 would get in through the "back door" and make their way to the Control Bridge and take the leaders of this renegade group hostage.

Once Anthony had read over the rest of the instructions once more, he looked out the view port of the ship and saw the space station filling out the view port as the ship approached. General Mansfield sat at the front of the ship, staring at the station, a scowl plastered on his face. Unlike everyone else onboard the transport, the General was dressed in his pristine dress uniform, rather than the power armored suits that the other Army Troopers were wearing. Anthony looked around at the various troopers, who had their visors retracted until they had docked, and saw the anticipation and a bit of anxiety on the faces of many of the younger troopers, while the older and more experienced troopers were far more relaxed than their younger comrades. Anthony could not help but have a bad feeling about this attack plan. The plan seemed simple enough, and if Samus and Dr. Bergman had managed to disable the security systems of entire station, then chances were that they would be able to board and quickly find and apprehend the ringleaders of this group before the fighting got out of hand. Still, plans rarely lasted past the start of the mission. And if the security systems were not disabled, then he and the others would have a huge fight on their hands.

"Heads up people," the voice of the pilot rang out over the speakers. "We're approaching the station now. Estimate two minutes till docking, and another ten seconds before the station's hull is breached."

That was the signal. The visors closed on the helmets of all of the Army Troopers, Anthony's included. He deployed his new plasma cannon, which was still attached to a backpack that supplied the cannon its power, and began to charge it. This new design was far more efficient and tactical in its use than its previous design, which took forever to charge and would lose its charge after merely a few shots. It also had far more ammunition stamina than the other plasma cannons as well, and it was still attached to the backpack, which meant that Anthony could also use the standard assault rifle, or energy assault rifle in his case, and the freeze gun. He then waited for the moment when the assault would begin. The plan was that Platoon 05 would be the first to disembark, followed by Platoon 06, and finally, Platoon 07. He still had a bad feeling about this, though. He felt that it was highly likely Commander General Cutter and his group were ready and waiting for them to attack. If that were the case, then this would be a bloodbath.

Onboard the station, General Cutter and the leaders of his renegade group looked over security reports that were coming in over the computer. Everything seemed to be working fine, so far. There had been no reports of Kriken activity in the area. Sensors also showed no signs of Space Pirate or Galactic Federation activity either. Chamolos walked up to General Cutter and told him, "So far, everything seems to be fine, Commander General. I think that you are worrying about nothing."

"I don't like it that Trooper Pearlman said that he sold us out to the Krikens," Cutter responded. "We're just one station, not enough for a species like the Krikens. Now if it were a young Kriken looking for a conquest then I could understand, but he made it sound like there was an attack coming on us that was sanctioned by the Kriken Empire, itself."

"Maybe they are coming," the Defense Minister offered. "The Krikens are well known for using cloaking devices on their ships when they engage in combat or launch raids."

"The Galactic Federation also has cloaking devices," Cutter countered. "And ours are even better," he added.

"I don't know what to say," Chamolos admitted. "I already have authorized the release of the bioweapons of Sectors Two and Three. The Hunters being grown in Sector One are also going to be ready for deployment shortly. The weakest part is the Main Sector, which we currently inhabit now. And even here, we are protected by Army Troopers loyal to our cause. If there is an attack, we will know about it and be able to respond rapidly." He then paused for a moment. "What has Clarice said? Does she sense the presence of any imminent attack?"

"Let's find out," General Cutter responded. He then went over to a beautiful young human woman, no older than twenty-one with red hair and green eyes. "Clarice," he bellowed. "What do you sense? What do you see?"

"I see nothing imminent," Clarice responded. "I can't sense anything outside, either. All of our security systems appear to be fully functional as well."

"See?" Chamolos said, trying to comfort Cutter, "Clarice senses nothing, so there is nothing imminent."

"I guess you're right," Cutter admitted. However, he still had the feeling at the back of his mind that an attack was about to be launched on the station. Little did he know how right he was.

Back onboard the _Hermes_, Anthony and the others waited anxiously for the ship to reach the hull and cut its way through. He knew that the cloaked _Medusa_ was already making its way towards Sector Two of the station. Checking his schematics once more, he found that they were likely going to be entering the Pyre Sector of the station. He hoped that they would have their Hazard Shields on, for he knew that it could get quite hot in Sector Two. He then focused his attention back on his own mission. If things went all right, then there would actually be no need for the _Medusa's_ complement of troops to fight for long. He glanced out the cockpit once more, his visor firmly in place over his face and his suit fully sealed. He knew that if there was catastrophic decompression onboard the _Hermes_ that he would be able to survive for a time. But he only had about one hour of air in his emergency air supply. While the _Loki_ would be able to reach them well before the time was up, he hoped that it would not come to that. And if Samus and Dr. Bergman managed to deactivate the defenses of the station, then chances were that it would not come to that at all. All he could do was wait, and pray.

As each moment passed, the ship got closer and closer to the hull of _Research Facility 777_. After a few moments, the ship shuddered, causing everyone to hold onto his or her crash harnesses for support, and a clank resonated throughout the ship. The occupants waited as they saw a boarding ramp extend to the station's hull. The voice of the pilot then echoed throughout the ship, "We've docked with the station. Get ready, everyone."

General Mansfield and the others then released their crash harnesses and stood up. General Mansfield, despite leading this mission, merely carried a freeze gun for defense. He stood up and let Platoon 05 and its commander, Colonel Hayes, take point. Of course, he would be in the middle of the army, well protected from any incoming fire that the troopers onboard the station would hurl at him. The grinding of metal and a screech that sounded like a buzzsaw cutting away at a piece of metal. Soon, an explosion sounded throughout the ship. The members of Platoon 05 rushed through the boarding ramp, and through the hole at the end of the ramp, where the ship had pierced the hull of the station. They were followed closely by Platoon 06, with General Mansfield walking snootily in their midst. They were finally followed by Platoon 07; led by Captain Anthony Higgs. He led his platoon through the breach and noticed that the other platoons were advancing quickly; too quickly for his liking, for the platoons were quickly taking a right when there was a fork in the corridor. He would have been more careful and taken better precautions, making sure that no one would be able to attack from behind. Still, there had been no sign of resistance yet. All the same, Higgs went over to the squad commanders and told them, "You guys, keep a few troopers back to check for any potential ambushes. I don't want the guys to get surprised from behind."

"Yes, sir," each of the squad commanders replied.

Damara Gomez, commander of Squad Seven, despite her youth, moved forward and stopped at the fork in the corridor. Looking down to the left, she then turned back and told Anthony, "All clear so far, Captain."

"Good," Anthony replied. "Keep your squad back and tell us if the situation changes. Keep Channel Four open in case we need your help."

"Understood, sir."

With that, Anthony and the rest of the platoon went on ahead while Damara and her squad of ten soldiers remained behind and secured the way back to the _Hermes_.

Not too far ahead, Platoon 05 came across the first source of resistance. A squad of Federation Army Troopers wielding assault rifles stood in the hallway. Apparently, they were doing routine patrols of the corridor. Upon seeing the invading Federation Army Troopers, they whipped out their assault rifles and opened fire on the Federation Troopers. Two of the leading Galactic Federation Troopers went down, numerous holes bored through their bodies by the renegade troopers' rounds, their armor offering little protection against the energy-sheathed bullets. The Federation Army Troopers quickly returned fire and riddled four of the enemy troopers with gunfire. Bullets tore through the armored troopers as if their armor and bodies were made of tissue paper. Soon, the surviving members of the squad raked the Federation Army Troopers with gunfire as the Federation soldiers did the same to the renegades. After a few seconds, three more Federation soldiers lay dead on the ground; Colonel Hayes among the fatalities, with four more injured enough to not be able to continue. Those who knew field medicine remained behind in order to tend to the wounded while the rest of the platoon moved forward. Not far behind was Platoon 06, with Platoon 07 bringing up the rear a ways back, just to make sure that there were no unexpected surprises.

On the Control Bridge, General Cutter and the others were discussing their next course of action. "Once the Hunters are ready, we should make our move against the Galactic Federation," Drayka, the Deputy Director of the Federation Intelligence Agency insisted. "They have already relaxed their guard with the threat of not only the Metroids, but also the Space Pirates, having been eradicated."

"The Space Pirates are not necessarily finished yet," Clarice, the human psychic responded. "There may have still been stragglers that managed to escape Zebes before its destruction. We know of at least one ion trail leaving the system as Zebes was destroyed."

"That still does not mean that Daiban will be on guard," Eiden retorted. "Daiban was never in any danger during the Phazon Crisis or during any of the times that the Space Pirates were highly active."

"There's a reason for that," Chamolos told him firmly. "Daiban is one of the most heavily defended planets in the Federation."

"That did not stop the Pirates from going after Earth," Nicole Carter grunted.

"And look what that got them," Chamolos retorted. "Rumor has it that the Pirate that planned the attack on Earth was executed that very day upon hearing the news of the fleet and Leviathan Seed that was lost in the massacre."

"That still does not mean that Daiban will be immune to attack," General Cutter offered. "Earth _is_ the most heavily defended planet in the Galactic Federation. Why do you think former Chairman Keaton was thinking about having the seat of the Federation moved to Earth?"

"Maybe because Earth makes up something like ninety percent of the military?" Chamolos answered. "And Earth has significant political clout for one planet due to having its own small alliance of colonies. Even if we _do_ take over Daiban, if Earth resists, it will be some time before we can take full control of the Federation."

"Earth may have a great deal of military might and significant clout politically, but in the long run, they are but one planet," Commander General Cutter countered. "Eventually, we will be able to overwhelm them with ships and personnel that are loyal to us. Remember, not all human worlds are Earth colonies."

"I know," Chamolos said. "But I think that we need to consider all of our options before committing to a single plan."

It was then that Clarice interrupted them all, blurting, "Attack! We are under attack!"

This took everyone off guard. Immediately, the guards in the room took up defensive positions around the room. The others were scrambling to find their defensive weapons, but Cutter was still calm. "By whom?" he asked Clarice in a calm voice.

"The Galactic Federation," she answered, straining to identify the attackers.

"Why the hell did our security systems not alert us?" Dr. Carter shrieked. "Where are our defenses?"

A technician that no one knew the name of quickly went over to a console and, after checking it, replied, "Our security systems are out! We're deaf, blind, and mute both inside and out!"

"Damn," Chamolos swore. He then turned to Clarice and cried, "Can we fight off the invasion?"

Clarice closed her eyes for a second, an act which unnerved Chamolos, and after opening them, replied, "Not without utilizing our bioweapons."

"But the Hunters aren't ready!" Drayka contested. "We can't send them with blind orders. They won't be nearly good enough against a true army; and besides, they may turn on us as well!"

"Then use the other weapons," Cutter commanded. "The Cyborg Zebesians and the others should be sufficient for defensive purposes against the Federation Troopers."

"We're on it," General Marcus Sheppard blurted as he and Dr. Nicole Carter left their posts and left the Command Bridge to head towards Sector Two in order to unleash the bioweapons upon the Federation soldiers.

In Sector Two, a section of hull was blown into the corridor as the boarding hatch extended from the transport _G.F.S. Medusa_. The hatch soon opened and dozens of troops were disgorged from the transport. Troops emerged from the hatch and flooded into the corridor. The troops soon split up, with Platoon 08 heading to its left, while Platoons 09 and 10 headed towards their right. Major Caroline Jenkins took the lead for Platoon 08 as they stormed down the corridor, while Captain John Haley took the lead for Platoons 09 and 10 as they headed in the opposite direction. The troopers quickly moved down the corridors, securing them as they proceeded.

Little did the troopers know that as they were proceeding down the corridor they were being watched by the numerous bioweapons from the several walkways above: two Kyratians and a Rhedogian. They shook with excitement as they watched the Federation troopers pass on by. Soon, they would feast on flesh once more.

Meanwhile, back on Z-1A, Samus Aran proceeded to make her way into a room with a single Chozo Statue, leaving a trail of dead Space Pirates and other Pirate bioweapons such as bred Shriekbats in her wake. Along the way, she had acquired several more Missile Tanks, bringing her total missile payload up to two hundred and fifty. As the door slid closed behind her, a golden shield appeared over the door. She activated her Scan Visor and scanned the obvious Chozo Statue crouching in the center of the room, with its hand outstretched and holding a blue ball with a stylized "S". It was evident that it was holding a Suit Upgrade of some sort. However, her scans indicated that there were organic components to the statue beneath its stone exterior. She then scanned the ball held by the statue and read that it was holding the Wave Beam upgrade. She knew that the chances of the statue being a Torizo were high, but it was a risk that she was willing to take in order obtain the Wave Beam. She approached the statue and stretched out her hand to grab the ball. Once her hand made contact with the ball, the ball transformed into a glowing ball of energy and disappeared into her suit. Her arm cannon immediately glowed as the Wave Beam was being integrated into her arm cannon. After the glowing died down, Samus fired a single blast from her new Wave Beam to test the beam. A trio of spinning undulating purplish pulses joined by sparks of electricity erupted from her cannon and flew across the room at close to the speed of light. The pulse struck the wall and spread out in a stream of electricity. The Wave Beam was essential for defeating electrical and energy-based enemies. It also had stun effects that made it an incredibly useful weapon against Space Pirates.

After Samus had test fired the weapon, she backed away and readied her missiles, for she suspected that there was more to this statue than meets the eye. She was proven right when the statue's eyes began to glow a deep yellow and the stone skin of the statue began to break apart. Rising from the statue was a familiar enemy known as a Torizo. The statue soon rose to full height and began to make its way toward Samus. If this Torizo was anything like the Torizo that she fought on Zebes, then it would be vulnerable to missiles and Super Missiles. This Torizo began its attack by hurling bombs at Samus. Samus sped out of the way of the incoming bombs, letting them detonated on the other side of the room, and charged a Super Missile. She knew that the Golden Torizo was able to catch Super Missiles, but the Bomb Torizo that she had encountered early in her second mission to Zebes was quite vulnerable to them. She fired the Super Missile and it quickly struck the Torizo in the chest, obliterating the semi-organic statue with one hit. Samus's eyes went wide at the ease of which she had taken down the Torizo. Even the Torizo that she had encountered on Zebes was stronger than this one. The Space Pirates must have really been hurting if this pathetic excuse for a Torizo was the best protection that they could afford for a treasure like the Wave Beam. She gave a shrug as she proceeded to enter the next corridor and make her way closer to the colony.

Back on the Sector Zero Command Deck of the _Bottle Ship_, MB stared down Adam as four of her Desbrachians neared him. Adam retreated a bit in order to put some distance between him and the butterfly-like enemies. He knew that if they got into close combat range, that they would tear him to shreds. However, if he could keep them at range, then he had a chance. He fired blast after blast from his freeze gun at the approaching enemies, spreading his fire among the four incoming Desbrachians, rather than focusing on one at a time the way he would have wanted to, for the Desbrachians could only be frozen after already sustaining noticeable damage. And even then, they would only remain frozen for less than a second before breaking free. Adam continued to retreat from the advancing Desbrachians and pelt them with ice blasts. As he was firing on more Desbrachians, one of them was finally frozen solid. Adam quickly went to shatter it with his assault rifle, taking aim at the frozen Desbrachian and riddling it with bullets before it defrosted. However, as he was shattering the frozen Desbrachian, the other three converged on him.

They were about to attack when the door at the bottom of the deck opened and the attacking enemies were assaulted by a barrage of freeze and plasma blasts. The Desbrachians turned to face their attackers, as did Adam. Standing in the doorway, Adam saw two familiar faces that he did not expect to see at all: Kreatz and Mauk. The two continued to fire on the Desbrachians as they charged towards the two rescuers. Adam joined in on the assault and after a few seconds, the Desbrachians were nothing more than memories.

After the Desbrachians were taken care of, Kreatz and Mauk looked forward and saw the figure of Commander General Adam Malkovich, holding his assault rifle in front of him. He lowered the rifle as soon as he saw the two soldiers approach, a scowl on his face. Kreatz and Mauk did not care about the scowl. They were simply overjoyed to see Adam Malkovich alive and none the worse for wear. "General Malkovich?" they both stammered. "Is it really you? I don't believe it! You're alive!"

Adam, however, was less than pleased to see the two of them. "What the hell are you two fools doing here?" he roared. "I specifically did _not_ want anyone responding to that Baby's Cry. That's why I shot the console in order to deactivate it!"

Kreatz and Mauk were dumbfounded at Adam's outburst. Even Adam seemed surprised at his recent outburst. "We're here to rescue you, and any other survivors here, and to destroy all of the bioweapons in this cube."

Adam took a step back and apologized, "I'm sorry. My temper has been a little short recently. I thought that I had gotten a hold of myself recently."

"It's alright Commander General," Kreatz offered.

"No, it's not," Adam said more forcefully. "I haven't been myself ever since I came on this mission, what with my mistreatment of Samus, my recent outburst with you, and other things."

"Samus?" Kreatz and Mauk asked, glancing over at one another.

Adam nodded. "Yeah. She came with me to help my team search for survivors on the _Bottle Ship_ about a week ago or so, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Because Samus only awakened from her coma a day ago and was onboard the _G.F.S. Olympus_ while in said coma. She's currently on planet Z-1A fighting off a Space Pirate raid," Mauk answered.

Adam's eyes went wide for a second, not believing what he had heard. Eventually, he looked somberly down at the ground and lamented, "And that's where you two should be now. You really shouldn't have come here. There is a dangerous enemy here that must be destroyed."

"Why shouldn't we have come?"

"Because I'll use your ship to leave and take up residence elsewhere," a voice answered from behind Adam. Adam turned and stepped to his right so the two newcomers could get a clear view of the woman standing before them, with two more Desbrachians, a squadron of eight Cyborg Zebesian Space Pirates, and four larval Metroids flanking her. "I must really thank you two for coming here. If Adam had managed to somehow defeat my Desbrachians on his own, he may have been able to disable me long enough to activate the autodestruct on this sector of the _Bottle Ship_ and destroy me along with my children."

"These weapons aren't your children," Adam retorted harshly.

"Yes they are," was MB's only response. "I made them. I engineered them to be what they are right now."

Kreatz and Mauk stared at the woman for a second before turning to Adam and asked, "Who is that?"

"That is MB, an android representation of the artificial intelligence that runs Sector Zero and controls the Metroids in the sector," Adam answered. "An artificial intelligence that was based on the Chozo biological supercomputer, Mother Brain, hence her name: MB."

"Mother Brain?" the two of friends uttered in hushed tones.

"Yes," MB proclaimed loudly. "I am a Federation version of Mother Brain. I was built onboard the _Bottle Ship_ by Federation researchers and scientists. I have all of her memories as of her first destruction at the hands of Samus Aran! The organic part of me, though, is based on the DNA of Mother Brain that was present as of her second, and seemingly final, destruction."

"Seemingly?" Kreatz asked.

"Well, you never know," MB responded with a shrug. "Ridley somehow manages to keep surviving, despite being killed, wounded, practically disintegrated, or blown apart."

"He didn't survive Zebes's destruction," Kreatz countered.

"Oh, don't be too sure," MB responded. "After all, I'm still here. And the Federation _did_ manage to clone him and have him achieve full maturity in less than a month." MB then gave a sinister grin. "Enough talk," she snapped. "I'm gonna kill you, and then take your ship. I can always start again, or rather use those weapons that you have yet to find…" With that, the Desbrachians, Cyborg Zebesian Space Pirates, and Metroids all charged the trio of warriors standing between them and the freedom to assault the galaxy.

Back on Z-1A, Samus finally made her way out of the network of tunnels that the Space Pirates were using to take supplies into and out of the colony, as well as researching for useful technological artifacts. As she emerged from the tunnels, she found herself in the center of the small colony, which consisted of a collection of small metal buildings. Wreckage from trucks and hovercars also littered the roads that led out of the small site. The only notable building that seemed to stand out was a five-story building a ways away from Samus. Just as she emerged, four Space Pirate Assault Aerotroopers spotted her and took off into the air. They soon deployed their Twin Remote Attack Pods, causing two pods to deploy, being connected to the small and more maneuverable jetpacks with merely a string of energy. A blue energy field similar to wings deployed behind the Pirates, generated by their jetpacks, as well. The Pirates wasted little time in targeting the Hunter as they unleashed a volley of missiles her way. Samus quickly patrolled the area, searching for cover behind any wrecked vehicles and rock outcroppings. There were few places to hide, but Samus was eventually able to find some cover and the missiles either landed a ways away from her, detonating harmlessly, or struck the objects interposed between them and Samus.

Samus wasted no time launching her retaliatory strike. She knew that the Pirate Assault Aerotroopers's shields were resistant to missiles, but they were quite vulnerable to beam weapons, and Pirates had particular problems dealing with her Wave Beam. Samus switched to her Wave Beam and charged it. She then targeted the nearest Space Pirate and unleashed a trio of purple electrical energy pulses that undulated and spun around a central axis. The beams homed in on the Assault Aerotrooper like a missile and struck him, shorting out his jetpack. The Pirate, still alive, gave out a cry as he fell to the ground and hit, his jetpack exploding upon impact: one down, three to go.

Samus soon repeated the process and soon, another Pirate was crashing down to the ground. After repeating the process two more times, the Pirate threat was seemingly over. Four Pirates were dead, and Samus did not even have a scratch on her.

After the battle, she proceeded to search the town and scan the buildings with her Scan Visor to see if there were any survivors. The first few buildings and huts she searched were empty, but fortunately, there were no human, or animal, remains either. It was not long before she reached the large building at the center of town that stood out among the rest. Outside the building, she saw the bodies of a couple Space Pirates as well as several Federation Security Officers. The small pistols that the Security Officers wielded were woefully insufficient for dealing with the well-armed Space Pirate Troopers that they had been tasked to defend against. Samus uttered a silent prayer for the souls of the fallen troopers. She then scanned the larger building and found that there were human survivors inside. In fact, there seemed to be a good number of humans inside, many of them women and children. There were also Elite Space Pirates guarding the human prisoners inside, as well as several more remains.

Suddenly, she then heard a prehistoric roar come from above. She tensed up for a moment and then looked above her. Standing on a large tower, she saw the one thing that she had not expected at all, for staring down at her was none other than her nemesis: Ridley. Samus stepped back a few paces, barely able to hide her shock at seeing her nemesis, but kept her composure. _Ridley_? she gasped in surprise and shock. _How? I destroyed him on Zebes! The planet exploded!_ She then grimaced. She had figured that there was a chance that some of the Space Pirates had managed to evacuate the planet before its destruction. But still, there was the issue of how they had managed to revive him. She had blown him apart on Zebes. His torso had been completely destroyed. There should have been no way for him to survive. This had to be a clone of some sort, she concluded. Still, she did not want to take any chances. She immediately activated her Scan Visor and scanned the Space Dragon. The scan read, _Morphology – Ridley, revived and enhanced using Space Pirate genetic engineering. DNA markers on the body indicate that most of the external body and internal organs are that of a clone body, but the brain and spinal chord bear no genetic imperfections, indicating that this is Ridley, with his brain transferred into a completely new body. His genetically enhanced skin is more resilient to damage than before and his plasma breath is more powerful as well. Ridley is also a formidable melee combatant, making any sort of engagement risky at best_.

That clinched it. She was staring up at her old nemesis, revived and improved, it seemed. Despite using a clone body, there was no mistaking his hate-filled gaze. It was him. It was the real Ridley. The dragon proceeded to jump off the tower and dove straight down at Samus, letting loose a massive stream of plasma. Samus jumped backwards to avoid his plasma breath, which was so hot it melted the road and turned it into lava. Ridley landed on the ground, throwing up dust and debris and letting out a flaming shockwave that Samus had to jump over to avoid as he landed. He gazed into Samus's visor and emitted a deafening roar at the top of his lungs. Samus did not back down, though, and she quickly powered a Super Missile, taking aim at the hulking beast. Once the missile was charged, she unleashed it upon Ridley and grinned. The missile streaked towards Ridley and struck him in the chest. The force of the Super Missile's explosion forced Ridley back a few steps, stopping his roar dead. Ridley quickly recovered and glared at Samus once more. Samus could tell from her scan that the missile had inflicted some damage, but it was not a lot. Any battle against Ridley would be a long one, to say the least.

"Not bad," he admitted, looking down at his body and seeing it still looking well. "I must admit that I felt that." He then grinned at Samus. "But don't get too cocky, little girl. You're fighting _me_, here. And as you should know, we're not alone." Ridley then directed her attention to the civilians inside the building. "Be careful, little girl," Ridley mocked. "You don't want this to turn into another K-2L, do you?" Ridley grinned at the mention of Samus's home planet. Samus gave him a scowl.

"Not this time, Ridley," she spoke softly, but forcefully.

Ridley laughed at Samus's retort. "Heh, heh, heh. Why are you even bothering to fight me, Samus? You know that it'll never end. I'll never die forever. I'll always be brought back!" He let that sink in for Samus before continuing. "You know you won't save them this time. I'll slaughter them all, just like I did on K-2L, just like I did to your mother. This will be another K-2L all over again!"

"Never!" Samus roared in response as she powered another Super Missile and unleashed it upon Ridley. Ridley tried to avoid the missile, but was not fast enough. The missile scored a direct hit on his side and he felt the explosion like a punch from one of his own kind. Still, the missile did not break the skin yet. However, he did not want to take too many more direct hits from Samus's Super Missiles. He then saw Samus approaching him, her arm cannon pointing straight at his head. He knew that she was serious, for she had already switched to her Ice Beam. He could almost see Samus smile as she said, "Let's end this, Ridley; once and for all!"

Ridley grinned at Samus's sentiment. Despite her early hits, he still felt confident that with his new body, he could defeat her. "Yes, let's," he roared in response as he unleashed a stream of plasma towards Samus. The seventh battle between Samus Aran and Ridley had begun.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Samus took aim with her charged Ice Beam just as Ridley opened his maw and unleashed a massive stream of plasma. She instinctively dove into Morph Ball mode before she could fire the blast and used her Boost Ball to quickly roll towards Ridley, allowing the plasma stream to pass over her harmlessly and melt a statue, as well as a Space Pirate Trooper that had been trying to line up a shot on Samus to help out his boss, behind her. Ridley swept his plasma breath downward and tried to follow Samus as she rolled underneath of him. His plasma breath burned a massive superheated gully in the center of town as he tried in vain to catch Samus. Once the Hunter was underneath Ridley, she quickly laid down a trio of Morph Ball Bombs and rolled on by. The bombs promptly exploded, inflicting little damage to Ridley, but managing to sting him. He issued a grunt of discomfort, but was not worried. Samus could drop Morph Ball Bombs on him all day and all it would do is sting him. They were not a danger to him. It was Samus's other weaponry that put him on guard. He knew that she only had a limited supply of missiles and Super Missiles, but her beam weaponry was still able to inflict some damage, at least while charged. Samus was eager to demonstrate this by charging a blast from her Ice Beam. She took aim at the massive Pterodactyl-like dragon and just as flames began to leak from his mouth in preparation for another blast of plasma, Samus fired on him.

Her charged Ice Beam shot streaked towards Ridley and hit him in the mouth, where the blast promptly exploded. The blast extinguished Ridley's flames and he recoiled in surprise and pain. A bluish aura resembling ice surrounded Ridley's head with the strike of Samus's Ice Beam shot. Samus did not let up on the dragon. She charged another blast of ice from her Ice Beam and unleashed it upon the dragon. The blast of ice struck the beast squarely in the chest and the energy spread out upon impact. Ridley reared back with the hit and roared. Samus checked her scan of Ridley's health bar at the top of her Combat Visor's HUD and saw that the Ice Beam was doing noticeable damage to Ridley. It did not inflict as much damage as her Super Missiles, but it was still quite damaging to Ridley. It would do if she were to run low on missiles later on in the fight. Ridley quickly regained his composure and roared at Samus, trying to intimidate her and catch her off guard so he could launch a blast of plasma at her and inflict a significant deal of damage to her suit. Samus was unfazed and charged another blast of her Ice Beam. Ridley decided that it was time to launch his attack, before Samus managed to unleash another blast of ice towards him. He went to unleash his plasma breath upon her when nothing happened. Instead of a stream of plasma erupting from his maw, only the stink of halitosis emerged, which would be easily filtered out by Samus's atmospheric filters inside her suit, or merely disperse a couple of meters away.

Samus proceeded to fire another blast of ice at Ridley. The dragon tried to avoid it, but it managed to catch his wing. Fortunately, the ice blast did not freeze his wing and, thus, did relatively little damage. However, it was of little comfort to him as he tried to unleash a stream of plasma at his nemesis once more. Again, nothing emerged from his mouth. He then curled up and tried to focus on bringing forth his plasma from his internal systems. However, nothing came up. In fact, he could barely feel any plasma inside of him at all.

"Damn," he swore. "That Ice Beam must have either disabled or neutralized by plasma."

He tried to bring forth more plasma to unleash against Samus when, again, it failed. Now was when he began to regret not having his Meta Ridley upgrades grafted onto him and insisting on a completely organic new body. His Meta upgrades would have allowed him access to a multi-missile system and a Meson Bomb launcher. Unfortunately, he had none of those weapons and had since lost his sole ranged attack. Still, he was quite formidable in melee combat. And his claws and tail were sharp enough to inflict damage to Samus's suit even with its Gravity upgrade. And this suit was merely a Varia Suit. He still had a chance. If the ice effect was anything like he hoped, he only had to last long enough for his own natural plasma to regenerate and burn through the ice that had been shoved down his throat.

Ridley spread out his wings and immediately charged Samus, taking her next Ice Beam blast as he barreled into her, knocking her to the ground. There, he pinned Samus flat to the ground. Samus grunted at her foolishness in being taken off guard by that charge. Ridley had her, and had no intentions of letting her up. Ridley raised his tail and thrust it towards Samus. Even without his plasma breath, he knew that he could still inflict damage with his teeth, claws, and razor-sharp tail. Samus managed to inch her shoulders and head away from the strike so it only managed to pierce the ground. Ridley was not finished, though, and quickly leaned down and bit Samus's helmet. Her shields prevented her helmet from suffering any damage and being torn off by Ridley's tremendous strength, but his attack still took off ten units of energy. Ridley then shoved his tail into the torso of her suit. Again, the tail was stopped by her shields, but her shields still suffered damage. Ridley raised his tail once more, but Samus was ready this time. She charged a Super Missile and as he thrust it forward, she fired. The missile struck the tail and exploded. The tail must have been quite sensitive, for Ridley roared in agony and cursed as he lifted one of his feet off of Samus due to the pain. She took this opportunity to shove off the unbalanced Ridley and curl up into Morph Ball mode and rocket away from Ridley. When she twenty meters or so away from him, she transformed back into her normal mode and turned to face him once more.

Ridley glared at Samus as she charged another shot from her Power Beam while the ends of her cannon opened, a prelude to launching a Super Missile. Ridley jumped into the air as Samus launched the Super Missile. With the Super Missile locked onto the dragon, it rose up to track Ridley and struck him in the rear at the base of his tail and detonated. Ridley's eyes went wide with pain as the missile detonated. Apparently, Ridley's tail was quite sensitive to attack, which surprised Samus since he had not shown such vulnerability in his tail before. Usually, Ridley's weak spots had either been his chest or his mouth. The Space Pirate Leader then flew towards Samus and came to a stop, hovering above her as she charged a Power Beam shot. The ends of her cannon were not open so Ridley doubted that she was going to fire a Super Missile. They cost five missiles per missile and thus, were not in infinite supply, and with how well she was doing against him so far, she really did not have to worry about having to waste ammunition. Still, he wondered why she was not charging her Ice Beam. He threw the thought aside as he thrust his tail down at Samus. Samus dodged the tail whip with a dive to her left. She quickly rolled and came up, ready to continue the fight. Indeed, she was powering a Super Missile, for she quickly launched one at Ridley. Ridley winced as he used his tail to try to swat the Super Missile away. Indeed, his tail made contact with the missile and managed to knock it off course, sending it careening into a small abandoned shop where it exploded and destroyed the building. Debris littered the landscape from the building's destruction.

_Darn it_," Samus thought. _I can't risk using Super Missiles, or regular missiles for that matter, against him while he's in the air. He'll just swat them out of the sky and their subsequent detonations may injure or kill any hiding civilians. I'll have to rely on my beams for this fight_. That was not too much of a problem, though, due to the effectiveness of her charged Ice Beam against him. She immediately switched to her Wave Beam and charged it. As soon as it was charged, she locked onto Ridley and unleashed a trio of oscillating pulses of electricity at the dragon. The pulses struck Ridley in the chest and electricity arced across his body as the blast detonated. Ridley gave a screech as he was hit and his flight was interrupted. He nearly fell to the ground, but was able to regain control and managed to keep himself from crashing into the ground. Still, he had accomplished what he needed to. He could feel the plasma welling up in his throat once more from his internal plasma engine, a hallmark of his race. Ridley grinned. "It's been fun, Samus. But now, you're going to die!" With that, he unleashed a massive stream of plasma at her.

Samus began to move out of the way as Ridley unleashed his plasma stream at her. She suffered an indirect hit, which still took off twenty energy units, and she quickly curled into her Morph Ball form and rolled around the town center. Ridley swept his stream of plasma across Samus's path, trying to regain his bead on her. Samus quickly realized that he would burn down the entire colony to get her so she quickly rolled closer to him, doing her best to avoid his blast while drawing it away from any of the other buildings in the town. Eventually, Ridley's attack ceased and Ridley thrust his tail down onto Samus. The tail hit her squarely in the center of her Morph Ball form and took off ten more units of energy. Samus then transformed back into her normal form and took aim at Ridley. She fired off a series of Ice Beam shots, which did little to Ridley. Ridley grinned at Samus as he told her, "Looks like my plasma's back."

Samus responded by charging her Ice Beam and taking aim at Ridley. The ends of her arm cannon opened and she then unleashed a blast from her Ice Spreader. Ridley's eyes went wide at the fact that she had her Charge Beam Combos so quickly. "What the…? We never found any Charge Beam Combo Suit Upgrades," he stammered as the spreading formation of ice rapidly approached him. He was quick to close his mouth as the ice blast closed in on him. He folded his wings over his head to shield it from the blast as the Ice Spreader's shot struck him and exploded, encasing part of his wings in ice. Ridley promptly fell to the ground, his eyes wide in horror. His wings had been frozen by the Ice Spreader's blast and he knew that if he hit the ground too hard, that his wings, and frozen legs, would shatter. Ridley soon struck the ground and, miraculously, his wings did not shatter. He knew that he was getting low on health, though. He could not take too much more of this punishment, while he figured that Samus was still pretty healthy. He glanced back and saw that Samus was approaching him, charging another blast of her Ice Spreader. She quickly unleashed it upon him. The only thing he could do was to try to defrost it or weaken it with his plasma breath. As the blast of ice erupted from her arm cannon and spread out to engulf him, he unleashed a blast of plasma from his mouth. _Thank the power_, he thought as he fired his plasma blast. The stream of plasma struck the wave of ice and managed to melt some of the ice, but the ice blast still continued to make its way towards him. The blast soon struck him and threw him off his feet, though it did not freeze any part of him solid. Ridley landed a ten feet away and skidded a few feet farther when he noticed the upside down appearance of a young human girl, no older than four Earth years old, standing in front of him, a look of absolute terror on her face. The girl reminded Ridley of a three year-old Samus Aran, except for the fact that this girl had red hair, rather than Samus's blond. He grinned. He finally had her. He had a way to ensure the defeat of Samus Aran.

He rolled over and stood on all fours. The girl's mouth hung open as she slowly backed away from the terrifying Space Dragon. Ridley leered at the girl as another blast of ice struck him. He grimaced as he was hit, but he continued to focus on the girl, rather than the incredibly dangerous and angry bounty hunter who hated his guts that was blasting him in the back with charged Ice Beams. Ridley guessed that Samus had not noticed the girl yet. He wanted to keep it that way, for the time being. He stood up and towered over the terrified girl as she tried to run away, tripping in the process. As the girl began to crawl and try to stand up again so she could sprint away from the terrifying dragon, Ridley took another hit from Samus. This blast was from the Ice Spreader, for this shot not only knocked over Ridley, but also froze his wings solid. Still, he knew that his internal plasma would heat his skin enough for him to melt the ice after a few minutes. The issue would be how he would survive until then. An idea began to form in Ridley's head and he leered at the four year-old girl again. He quickly leapt at the girl and grabbed her, holding her in his left talon. He then turned towards Samus, revealing the captive he held in his grasp. He held the girl in front of him as Samus was preparing to fire her Ice Spreader to inflict greater damage to him. Samus's eyes went wide at the sight of the girl, who looked to be no older than four, and reminded Samus of her self at that age. "No," she stammered, fearful that Ridley would kill the girl in front of her eyes, just as he had her mother. This was made worse by the fact that she could not get a clear shot at Ridley, for every time she adjusted her aim to try to hit the dragon, Ridley interposed the girl between the cannon and his body. His shield was more effective than any force field or other technological shield, for Samus would not dare risk harming the child, even if risking the girl's life would allow her to finally kill Ridley once and for all. The girl struggled to break free of Ridley's grasp, but her struggles were in vain. When she saw Samus pointing her arm cannon at Ridley, and by extension, her, she cried at the top of her voice, "Help! Please help me!"

"What are you gonna do now, Hunter?" Ridley laughed as the girl continued to struggle in his grasp, which only caused Ridley to tighten his grip even more, causing the girl to grunt and gasp for breath. "You fire on me, you'll risk hitting the girl. If you don't try to take me down, I'll just do this…" He then unleashed a blast of plasma at Samus. The attack caught Samus off guard, as Ridley had intended, and he scored a direct hit on her. The attack depleted the rest of Samus's first Energy Tank. Fortunately, she still had fifteen more tanks in reserve, not to mention her Reserve Tanks. She could take many more hits before she was put into any real danger, and Ridley had already taken a beating during the fight. Chances were that he was in far worse shape than she was. Still, with that girl in his grasp, he had a very effective shield. He knew that Samus would not risk hurting the girl just to get to him, no matter how much she hated him and wanted revenge. For a second, Samus feared that he would soon kill the girl just to get her angry, especially after he scored a few more hits on her and inflicted some real damage to her defenses. She soon banished the thought, knowing that he would be a fool to do so, since killing the girl would not only get rid of his most potent defense, but also enrage Samus to the point where her only goal would be to kill him, as slowly and painfully as possible. And given her recent performance against him in this fight, the last thing Ridley would want to do is to get rid of his shield.

Ridley rose into the air, still holding the girl out in front of him, using her as a human shield, as he unleashed a series of plasma fireballs down at Samus. The spread of fireballs struck the ground all around her, with one of them scoring a direct hit on her, taking out ten more units of energy. Ridley continued the fireball barrage and focused in on Samus. In order to not incinerate his hostage, he moved her out of the way of his fireballs. Samus could see that she had a chance, but she would have to be right on target in order for this to work. As Ridley fired on her, she quickly took aim at his open mouth and fired a burst of uncharged Ice Beam shots. She knew that if she had charged her Ice Beam, Ridley would merely have moved the girl to intercept the freezing blasts of energy, any of which could kill an unarmored four year-old child. The blasts managed to hit Ridley in the mouth, though they inflicted minimal damage to Ridley. Even in his weakened condition, if the Ice Beam blasts were to finally kill him, it would be a death by a thousand cuts. And considering the fact that for each volley she unleashed on him, he managed to hit her with a volley of fireballs that knocked out nearly half an Energy Tank per volley, she realized that she would lose this exchange. Her only hope would be that she managed to freeze his throat or mouth so that Ridley would not be able to use his plasma, but so far, none of her blasts were freezing him. She also doubted that any uncharged Ice Beam blasts would be sufficient to freeze any part of Ridley solid anyway. She had to find a way to free the girl from Ridley's grasp so she could engage him in a fair fight. An idea soon came to her mind.

Samus began by charging towards Ridley. During her charge, she switched to her Wave Beam. She jumped right at Ridley, despite the fact that he had a perfect bead on her to unleash his plasma breath on her. As Ridley fired, she unleashed several blasts from her Wave Beam on the dragon. The blasts inflicted more damage on Ridley than the Ice Beam shots, but still, the damage inflicted by the Wave Beam shots was miniscule in comparison to Ridley's volley of fireballs. Still, Samus's plan was not to inflict damage, just to distract Ridley. He did not notice that she had activated her Grapple Lasso on her left arm. She slung her left arm forward and a golden beam of energy extended from a device on her left forearm. The golden beam targeted the four year-old girl and wrapped around her, the energy inflicting no damage to the girl at all. The girl looked at Samus, her eyes still full of fear, but also with hope that she was going to help her. Samus smiled gently at the girl, despite the fact that her helmet hid her smile. "Don't worry," she told the girl. "I'm going to help you. Don't move."

"Oh, I do think that you should worry," Ridley retorted, focusing his gaze on the girl. Samus, however, merely gave her Grapple Lasso a yank. The yank pulled the girl away from Ridley's chest and gave Samus an opening for her to fire a charged shot from her Wave Beam. The three charged pulses of electricity streaked from the Hunter's arm cannon at nearly the speed of light, too fast for Ridley to be able to interpose the girl between the beam and him, even if Samus's Grapple Lasso had allowed him to move his arm far enough to use the girl as a shield. The Wave Beam struck Ridley and electricity arced across his body. His body spasmed and the spasms forced him to release his grasp of the girl. In a flash of movement too fast for the normal human eye to track, Samus ran to the girl, leapt up and caught her, using her own body to shield the girl as the roaring Ridley turned and unleashed another blast of plasma at the two of them. Using herself as a shield took its toll on Samus's suit's shielding as she sacrificed a full Energy Tank to withstand Ridley's stream of plasma that was meant to melt Samus and the girl into puddles of melted flesh and blood. Samus stood over the girl, using her body to deflect the massive stream of plasma so that the wisps of fire that were not absorbed by her shield were safely deflected away or around the girl. The girl shuddered with fright as Ridley unleashed his plasma against Samus in an attempt to kill the both of them. Despite the massive power of Ridley's plasma breath, Samus stood firm and protected the girl, ensuring that no harm came to her.

"Stay behind me," Samus told the girl in a soft, calm, yet stern voice. "You'll be fine," she assured the terrified girl. "Don't worry. I'll protect you with my life if that's what it takes." She knew that this would be a day that the girl would remember for a long time, especially if Ridley had killed her parents. But even if her family were still alive, seeing a battle like this was something that would stay with a person for a very long time.

Eventually, the assault ended and Ridley stood erect for a second, apparently recharging his plasma for a second assault. Samus quickly switched back to her Ice Beam and proceeded to turn to face Ridley as he began to recharge. She charged her beam and prepared to fire another blast from her Ice Spreader, targeting Ridley's head, hoping to get off her shot before he managed to fire his plasma. After that, it would be a simple matter of using the Wavebuster, her Wave Beam Missile Combo, to take down Ridley once and for all. Despite the plasma having been cut off for a couple of seconds, she saw that her shields were still glowing, and she had also lost another Energy Tank. It was of little consequence as she turned and locked onto Ridley. She then fired her Ice Spreader and the large wave of ice approached Ridley. In order to keep Ridley in place, she simultaneously used her Grapple Lasso to wrap up Ridley and keep him immobile as the Ice Spreader blast approached him. After another second, the Ice Spreader blast struck Ridley in the head, much of the ice spreading into his mouth. Ridley gagged and gasped for breath as the ice froze his throat and cooled his plasma. Ridley tried to use his plasma but found that he was unable to do so. To make matters even worse, part of his tail was also frozen solid by the effects of the Ice Spreader and rendered useless.

Samus then threw Ridley aside and into the side of an already wrecked truck. The impact flattened the remains of the truck and also snapped off the frozen part of Ridley's tail, causing a screech of agony to echo forth from his mouth. The ice of Samus's Ice shot managed to prevent the wound from bleeding, but that small fact gave Ridley little comfort. Samus grinned at Ridley's suffering and the damage that he had sustained. She normally could not stand to see others suffer, but for Ridley, it was different. She hated him with a passion that no words in any language could describe, and Ridley was evil beyond description. She had been relishing this moment ever since she saw that her nemesis had survived the destruction of Zebes. She switched to her Wave Beam and charged it up so she could use her Wavebuster. After charging her Wave Beam, she fired, and unleashed a stream of lightning against Ridley. The lightning homed in on Ridley as if he was a lightning rod and electricity arced across his body as the Wavebuster assaulted Ridley. Ridley cried out as he suffered the constant assault from the attack. The girl next to Samus covered her ears at Ridley's cries, but Samus held firm and approached the struggling Ridley. She knew that she was blowing through her arsenal of missiles, but she knew that Ridley would not last much longer. Indeed, after a few moments, Ridley fell to the ground, his strength completely drained. His body was covered with multiple burns and cuts. The end of his newly shortened tail were cauterized by the Wavebuster. Ridley's chest slowly rose and fell, indicating that he was still alive, but he was in bad shape. His wings looked to have been torn to shreds as multiple tears and holes were visible in his wings. Samus doubted that Ridley would be able to fly for quite a while. But the battle was not over yet. Ridley was still alive. For the battle, and the nightmare, to finally end, she had to finish him off, once and for all. To that end, she switched back to her Power Beam. Checking her missile inventory, she found that she still had fifty missiles left. Fifty would be more than enough to finish off Ridley and also clear out the other Pirates that were still in the colony. She quickly powered a Super Missile and targeted Ridley. But before she could fire it at Ridley and finish him off, a squadron of four Pirate Assault Skiffs appeared on the scene, along with a Heavy Assault Transport.

The skiffs, upon seeing Ridley's condition, immediately targeted Samus and the girl, figuring that Samus would target them, rather than their leader, while the Assault Transport came in to evacuate Ridley. The transport was too small to hold Ridley on the inside, but they could let him latch onto the hull and carry him into orbit where they could get him onboard the Space Pirate Frigate and heal him there. Sure enough, the skiffs fired on Samus and the girl. Samus stepped out in front of the girl and took the blasts that were ostensibly meant for her. Samus retaliated by firing off her Super Missile at the first skiff. The missile struck the skiff and blew it apart in midair. Samus then targeted the second skiff and fired off a second Super Missile. The girl covered her ears as she shot down the second skiff. As the two remaining skiffs continued to attack, she heard a transmission seemingly come from a device on Ridley's neck.

"Lord Ridley, this is Commander P'Fash onboard the frigate _Chimera_," a voice frantically screamed in over the comm. "A Federation battleship has just emerged from warp over the planet!"

In the orbit of Z-1A, Commander P'Fash watched from the bridge of the _Chimera_ as a Federation battleship, the _G.F.S. Olympus_, emerged from warp approximately one hundred thousand kilometers away from the frigate. The _Olympus_ immediately opened fire on the frigate with its forward beam cannon. A solid red lance of energy shot forth from the bow of the ship and streaked across the void, scoring a direct hit on the _Chimera_. The ship lurched violently with the impact of the beam. Sparks erupted from a console behind him, killing the Pirate officer manning the console. "Damage report!" he cried over the din.

One of the Pirate officers, a Zebesian Space Pirate, checked the tactical console as the reports flooded in. "Shields down to fifty percent! Weapons at seventy-five percent of normal!" the Pirate cried.

P'Fash glanced over at the screen as he told communications, "Send another message to Lord Ridley. Tell him we can't hold out up here. We're no match for an Olympus-class battleship!"

"Yes sir," the communications officer answered as he went to work to inform Ridley of the situation.

"Reroute power from anywhere we can to shields," P'Fash commanded. "Take it from weapons and life-support if you have to. We have to survive long enough for Lord Ridley to get back onboard!"

Back on the surface, Ridley struggled to move as Samus fought off the two remaining skiffs that were diverting her attention away from him. One skiff had already gone down trying to buy Ridley time and divert Samus's attention away from him. "Lord Ridley," he heard the next report crackle in. "We can't hold out against an Olympus-class battleship. We must withdraw at once. We need you to get back up here, as quickly as possible!"

Ridley smiled inwardly as he heard the report. Finally, there was a way to flee this fight while still being able to save face before the others. He activated his own communicator and proceeded to croak, "All Space Pirate forces, gather all of your data and any artifacts that you managed to find and evacuate at once. All Pirates that are guarding the human prisoners, kill them at once and flee!"

A chorus of affirmatives rang back in Ridley's ears. He breathed a sigh of relief as a massive Heavy Assault Transport and four Space Pirate Fighters approached his location. The transport was more like a small capital ship than a transport. He knew that Samus have a lot of difficulty taking down the transport, though the fighters would be pretty easy to take down, but she had other things on her mind right now. The order to kill the humans was not just made to spite the Federation, but also to divert Samus's attention away from him while the transport lifted off and got him back to the frigate.

Ridley's order made Samus's next objective clear. She immediately went over to the girl and told her, "Find someplace safe to hide at once. I have to clear out the rest of the Pirates from the town. I'll come get you once it's safe." She did not want to leave the girl unprotected, but she figured that the girl had a better chance of survival the farther away from her she was, since she was about to engage a small army of Pirates in an attempt to save those imprisoned from execution. She quickly checked her inventory and found that she still had thirty missiles left and was only down to thirteen Energy Tanks. That should be more than sufficient to deal with the remaining Pirates. She then rushed towards the town center, where she already heard the sounds of energy fire. She quickly scanned the interior of the building and saw that four Elite Pirates and their Commander were herding the prisoners, all of them human, into a corner. She grimaced. It would be a shooting gallery. She ignored the Heavy Assault Transport lowering itself so Ridley could be taken onboard and evacuated from the area. She then switched to her Wave Beam. She quickly fired a missile to break through the entrance to the building. They could bill her once this was over, if they wished. After the missile breached the entrance to the building, the Pirate Commanders and the Elite Pirates turned at the sound and saw the Hunter standing before them. The Elite Pirates, even though they were no longer enhanced by Phazon, were still quite formidable, and they still had that Energy-siphoning system that made beam weaponry useless against them. Their heavy armor and Plasma Artillery Cannons made them the equivalent to walking tanks. Unfortunately, they were about as maneuverable as tanks as well, which gave Samus a significant edge over them as she targeted the one Elite Pirate that was about to turn to kill the human hostages. She locked onto the Pirate's plasma cannon with her Super Missile and fired. The missile erupted from her arm cannon and homed in on the Elite Pirate. The missile struck the cannon and detonated, blowing apart the cannon, as well the armor that covered the upper right torso and neck of the Elite Pirate as well. This rendered him vulnerable to Samus's other weaponry. She quickly charged a shot from her Power Beam and fired on the Elite Pirate while dodging fire from the other Elite Pirates. Due to the damage suffered by the cannon, the Pirate's Energy-siphoning system was not functioning. This charged blast blew off more armor and inflicted significant damage to the Elite Pirate. The Pirate fell to the ground wounded, but not dead. Samus then turned her focus onto the other three Elite Pirates and their Commander, figuring them to be the greater danger both to herself and the civilians, who were quickly trying to flee the scene.

Samus proceeded to target a second Elite Pirate and fired another Super Missile at his Plasma Artillery Cannon. Again, the missile struck the cannon and detonated, blowing apart the cannon and taking off some of the Pirate's armor in the process. Samus was quick to target the third Elite Pirate's cannon and unleashed another Super Missile. This missile also took out said Elite's cannon. This missile inflicted more damage, though, for her missile also took off this Pirate's right arm in the process as well. The Pirate was thrown to the left and fell to the floor, crying out in agony, clutching the cauterized stump that remained of his right arm. Before neutralizing the cannon of the final Elite Pirate, Samus gave this Pirate quick mercy by firing a few more Power Beam shots at the Pirate's exposed head. Once he was finished, Samus targeted the final Elite Pirate. Unleashing one final Super Missile, she took off his Plasma Artillery Cannon, along with some of his armor. Samus then charged a shot from her Power Beam and unleashed it on the Pirate in the unarmored part of his body. The yellowish-orange pulse of energy streaked across the space between Samus and the Pirate and quickly struck the Pirate, exploding as it struck the Pirate. The strike fatally injured the Elite Pirate and he fell over onto the floor, dead. Samus then went to finish off the two remaining Pirates. She quickly found the wounded Pirate crawling towards the last of the fleeing civilians, doing his best to kill some of them. She finished off this Pirate with a few shots from her Power Beam to his head. She then turned and found the final remaining Elite Pirate deciding that his best chance was to deal with her directly. This Elite Pirate charged her and tried to rake his claws across Samus's torso. Samus jumped back and managed to avoid the swipe. Samus then charged one last blast from her Charge Beam and unleashed it at the Elite Pirate at point blank range. The blast burned a massive hole into the Pirate and the Pirate staggered backwards and fell to the floor, dead.

With the Elite Pirates dead, Samus quickly searched for any dropped ammunition power-ups, for she only had ten missiles left. She noticed several unused missiles near the dead corpses of the Pirates and she charged her Power Beam to draw them in. Once they were drawn in, she had managed to increase her supply back to thirty missiles. She merely hoped that it would be enough for dealing with the Pirate Commander. After she had gotten all that she could from the fallen Pirates, she went off in search for the Pirate Commander, for she knew that the Commander would not let her live if he could help it. The worse prospect, though, was the potential for him to target the civilians and to try to kill them. Her fears of the Pirate Commander heading after the civilians, however, would be unfounded as the Pirate Commander soon appeared in front of her and took aim with his heavy energy cannon and fired on her. His blast managed to take twenty units of energy from her Energy Tank and forced her backwards. Samus struggled to maintain her balance as she staggered backwards. The Pirate Commander then disappeared and immediately reappeared behind Samus. The moment the Space Pirate vanished, Samus transformed into Morph Ball mode and avoided the swipe from the Commander's energy scythe, which sailed over her ball form. Samus then laid down a Morph Ball Bomb on the Commander, which promptly detonated. The explosion did little damage to the Pirate Commander, but the force of the explosion did propel Samus upwards. She then dropped more Morph Ball Bombs on the Pirate Commander, doing her best to make sure that she struck at his head, which seemed to be the Commander's weak spot. Explosion after explosion buffeted against the Pirate Commander. The Commander aimed his energy cannon up towards Samus, but his shots went wide.

Eventually, Samus felt as if she had inflicted enough damage to the Pirate Commander's defenses for her to start using her stronger weapons. She quickly transformed back to normal and charged her missiles while backing away from the Pirate Commander, wanting to avoid engaging the Commander in close combat. She quickly unleashed a Super Missile at the Pirate Commander. The missile crossed the distance and struck the Pirate Commander in the chest. The detonation forced back the Pirate Commander and he staggered backwards. He returned fire on Samus and unleashed a volley of blue energy pulses against Samus. Several of the pulses managed to strike her and she lost twenty more units of energy to the volley. However, the damage she sustained was nothing compared to the damage that she inflicted on the Pirate Commander with her next Super Missile. The next Super Missile struck the Pirate Commander's shields and managed to collapse them. As the smoke cleared, Samus saw that the Commander's armor was smoking but had not suffered any damage from her missile. Wanting to conserve her missiles, she quickly switched to her Wave Beam.

As Samus charged her Wave Beam, the Pirate Commander set his heavy energy cannon to full automatic fire and sprayed energy blasts in the direction of Samus. As Samus took a few hits, she noticed that many of the shots went far wide of their mark. She prayed that there were no civilians outside close to the building, for she knew that if any of those blasts had managed to strike a civilian, he or she would be killed instantly. Once her Wave Beam was charged, she proceeded to unleash the three pulses against the Pirate Commander. The three undulating electrical pulses scored direct hits on the Pirate Commander and lightning arced across his armor as his armor's systems were shorted out by the Wave Beam. The Commander let loose a cry of pain and surprise as he was stunned by the blast. Samus did not let up on him, though. She unleashed blast after blast on the Pirate Commander from her Wave Beam. With each hit, lightning continued to arc across the armor of the Pirate Commander. The Commander raised his weapon to fire on Samus, but when he pulled the trigger, the weapon refused to fire. When Samus saw that the Pirate Commander's heavy energy cannon was unable to fire, she berated herself for not thinking to use the Wave Beam earlier. It would have saved her a lot of time and almost a full Energy Tank, not to mention the fact that it would have been safer for anyone who had been outside or in the line of fire while the Commander had been firing wildly at her. She soon decided that it was time to end the threat of this Space Pirate once and for all. She switched back to her Power Beam and powered a Super Missile, readying it to destroy the stunned Pirate Commander. She locked onto the Pirate Commander and launched her Super Missile. The missile erupted from her arm cannon and streaked towards the Pirate Commander.

The Commander, still paralyzed, could only watch in horror as the missile made its way towards his head. "Noooo," the Pirate Commander cried as the missile collided with his head and detonated, annihilating the Pirate in the process. Smoking shards of metal flew out from the center of the explosion. Once the Pirate Commander was dead, Samus turned and walked out of the building. She turned to find Ridley being taken onboard the Heavy Assault Transport. The boarding ramp closed and the transport took off, along with several Pirate Assault Skiffs and six Space Pirate Fighters surrounding the transport, protecting it. Samus knew that she did not have the means to intercept them and shoot them down so she simply let them go. She then proceeded to explore the rest of the small town, in order to make sure that there were not any Space Pirate stragglers that would try to make life difficult for the surviving colonists.

Back in space, many of the surviving Assault Skiffs and Assault Transports were already being loaded onto the _Chimera_. The Space Pirate Fighters streaked towards the Federation Stiletto-class fighters and began to target them. The Stilettos, however, had superior targeting systems and were equipped with missiles and as such, were able to lock onto the Space Pirate Fighters from much farther away than the Pirate Fighters were able to target them. The Stilettos proceeded to unleash a volley of missiles at the Space Pirate Fighters and then veered away, just in case the Pirate Fighters decided to take a few potshots at them. Indeed, the Pirate Fighters tried to take a few potshots at the Stilettos, but did not manage to strike any of them. This caused the Pirate Fighters to miss the fact that the Stilettos had unleashed a volley of missiles at them. They noticed the missiles far too late to do anything and as they tried to engage in evasive maneuvers, the missiles followed them and promptly blew them apart. After less than thirty seconds from the start of the engagement, the Space Pirate Fighters had been completely destroyed.

Over at the _Chimera_, the frigate was exchanging fire with the Olympus-class battleship, and suffered far worse than the _Olympus_. The bridge of the ship shook violently with the strike from the energy lance that had been fired from the _G.F.S. Olympus_. The _Chimera_ had turned its starboard side to the _Olympus_ in order to allow the shields on the port side of the ship to allow the transports to get back onboard the frigate. The frigate fired a series of blue energy pulses at the _Olympus_, the pulses striking the shields of the Federation battleship, causing them to flash for an instant.

"Damage report on the _Olympus_!" bellowed P'Fash.

The tactical officer quickly checked the readouts before looking up at the Commander and responding, "Minimal damage to the shields of the _Olympus_. Other than that, the ship's in pristine condition."

The ship then shook violently once more and the tactical console exploded in the officer's face. The officer gave a short, muffled cry as he was thrown from the epicenter of the explosion. The body of the officer landed a few meters away, shrapnel embedded in various parts of the unfortunate Pirate's body. Two security personnel came over with fire extinguishers and attempted to put out the blaze that was started by the explosion. Acrid smoke stung the eyes and lungs of the unarmored and armored Pirates that did not have enclosed armor on the bridge of the ship.

"Damage!" P'Fash cried at the top of his lungs.

A voice frantically sounded from behind the Commander and to his left. "Our shields have collapsed! We've suffered hull breaches on decks two, three, and four! Casualty reports are coming in from all over the ship." The officer paused before finishing, "Sir, we can't take any more of this. They fire another lance, and we'll be destroyed!"

"How many transports have managed to get back onboard?" P'Fash inquired over the din of explosions, cries of the wounded, and alarm klaxons.

"Only four, sir," the officer responded.

"Was Lord Ridley's one of them?"

The officer checked the console once more. P'Fash turned to face the officer as the officer had a depressed look on his face. The officer shook his head. "He's on the last transport. We'll never last long enough to bring him onboard."

P'Fash considered his options. He looked at the reports coming in over his monitor and saw that his ship was in the middle of a hopeless battle. The _G.F.S. Olympus_ was practically undamaged, while the _Chimera_ was on its last legs. A transmission then came in over the comm of the Federation ship, "This is Admiral Castor Dane of the _G.F.S. Olympus_ to Space Pirate vessel. Your ship has suffered severe damage. Surrender now or be destroyed. This is your only warning." With that, the communications signal was cut.

P'Fash fell back into his seat. "And I thought the Hunter was bad enough," he muttered. "Why did it have to be _him_?" Admiral Castor Dane had always hated the Space Pirates and was very enthusiastic in their capture and destruction.

He soon heard more signals coming in over the radio, "This is Transport Squadron Beta, requesting landing clearance. We have Chozo artifacts and need to get onboard as soon as… bzzzzt." Static abruptly cut off the signal. P'Fash checked his personal sensor screen and found that half of Transport Squadron Beta had been vaporized by a beam of energy launched by the _G.F.S. Olympus_. He checked on Assault Transport Squadron Gamma, and Gamma Leader, the transport that held onto Ridley. He knew that the situation was hopeless. There was nothing he could do.

"Close the hatches and angle the shields so that what's left of our shields is facing the _Olympus_," the Commander ordered. "Then, get us out of here."

The rest of the bridge crew looked at P'Fash dumbfounded. He had just ordered them to abandon their leader, Ridley. And given the reports, Ridley had been severely injured in his battle against Samus Aran. "Commander?" several bridge crewmembers asked.

"You heard me!" P'Fash snapped, slamming his fist into his console. His expression, however, showed that he was no happier about the situation than anyone else was. "Carry out my orders!" he shouted.

"Yes sir," the Pirates responded as they went to carry out Commander P'Fash's orders. The ship proceeded to turn away from the transports and accelerate away from both the planet and the Federation battleship. The Federation ship fired on the _Chimera_, but it had already diverted power from weapons to shields, so the shields were able to take the hit, though the shields had been reduced to ten percent by the _Olympus's_ energy beam. As soon as the _Chimera_ had escaped the gravity well of Z-1A, though, the ship powered its warp drive. P'Fash looked out at the view screen as he saw the view of the ships he was abandoning behind him. "I'm sorry, Lord Ridley," he said quietly as he turned back to focus on his job.

"Sir, we've escaped the planet's gravity well!" one of the officers cried out over the bridge.

"Jump!" P'Fash commanded.

The commands were then input into the helm and navigation consoles. The _Chimera_ then proceeded to jump into warp.

Back near the planet, the remaining transports continued to fly towards the previous location of the _Chimera_. Most of the skiffs and transports were not equipped with faster than light drives. As such, they were trapped in the solar system and were easy pickings for the Federation Stiletto fighters. The other transports of Beta Squadron quickly turned back to head down to the surface of Z-1A to try to hide among the Chozo Ruins and set up defensive positions. However, several Stiletto-class fighters broke off in pursuit of Beta Squadron. Without fighter cover, they had no chance of survival. The Stilettos quickly closed the gap and, not wanting to use up any more of their missiles, fired their energy cannons towards the transports. Scarlet pulses of energy shot out from the cannons and quickly struck the rears of the transports. After sustaining two direct hits, the transport's engines exploded, the explosion tearing off the rear half of the transport. The front half then fell to the planet's surface and exploded upon impact. The other transports of the squadron fared no better. After a mere minute, the entirety of Beta Squadron had been shot down, with only one transport managing to land relatively intact, if unable to take off again. Their deaths were not in vain, however, for one transport managed to evade detection and pursuit.

Above the planet, outside of the atmosphere, Ridley's transport continued on its path out of the system and prepared to jump to warp. Unlike most Cargo, Troop, and Assault Transports, Ridley's transport had been modified with not only a warp drive, but also shield generators. The ship raised its shields so as to protect the injured Ridley from the effects of subspace. Ridley had watched from the underbelly of his transport as the _Chimera_ had jumped into warp. He had grimaced at the sight and a part of him wanted to devour P'Fash for his cowardice. Another part of him, though, knew the situation. The fight against the _G.F.S. Olympus_ was a hopeless battle.

Upon seeing the other transports in its squadron getting massacred by the Federation fighters, his transport veered away and rocketed away from the planet. Just before the transport jumped into warp, Ridley vowed that he would heal, and when he did, he would hunt down Samus Aran, find her, and kill her. After a few seconds, his transport jumped to warp. It was the only transport that had managed to escape the battle.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Back on Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_, Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk fought back wave after wave of enemies ranging from Cyborg Zebesians, to Kyratians, to Desbrachians, to even some Metroids. A combined Freeze Gun blast from Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk managed to freeze a so-called unfreezable infant larval Metroid. The Metroid promptly fell out of the air and onto the ground, clattering on the ground as it rolled to a stop after falling. Adam then riddled the Metroid with bullets, shattering the creature and neutralizing its threat. The group did not celebrate, though, for there were still three more Metroids to deal with, along with the Desbrachians and other enemy soldiers. Adam and the others knew that they would quickly be overwhelmed if MB was able to summon any reinforcements to the Command Deck. Kreatz pulled out a fragmentation, or frag, grenade and tossed it at a team of four Cyborg Zebesians, Space Pirates with bird-like heads and beaks. The grenade left his hand and arced through the air towards the bird-like Pirates and fell among them and exploded. The Pirates were pelted with shrapnel and the concussion knocked them flat onto the ground. Two of the Zebesians were killed by the grenade's detonation with the other two suffering significant wounds but still alive. Adam changed that with a volley of bullets to the heads of the fallen Pirates, neutralizing their threat permanently.

Meanwhile, Mauk had his hands full with two Desbrachians, which were doing their best to close into melee range with him so they could tear him to shreds. Seeing that their claws would be lethal if they made contact with him, Mauk continuously backed away from the two butterfly-like enemies while continuing to unload plasma blasts from his shoulder-mounted plasma cannons and his Chozo Energy Rifle into the tough beasts, who remained standing and still charged, even after having sustained several direct hits. Without ranged weapons, the Desbrachians were not the ultimate weapons that they had the potential of being, but were still dangerous nonetheless due to their speed and durability. However, even Desbrachians had their limits. A few plasma and energy blasts later, one of the Desbrachians finally fell to the ground, but the creature was not dead yet. The fallen Desbrachian quickly curled into a green tinted version of its shell and proceeded to begin regenerating. Mauk, not wanting to give the Desbrachian a chance to heal, drew out a blue plasma grenade and activated it, causing a blue light to flash on the grenade. He then tossed the grenade over to the regenerating Desbrachian and waited for it to detonate. The grenade detonated in a bright flash of blue fire that washed over the regenerating Desbrachian. The creature immediately emerged from its regenerative state and proceeded to lash out at its surroundings, giving Mauk an opportunity to put the monster down for good with another volley of plasma and energy blasts.

Once the first of the Desbrachians was defeated, Mauk turned his heavy weaponry against the second. Another explosion rang out from behind him and he saw the rest of the Zebesians fly in all directions. One of the Zebesians had killed instantly, while Kreatz and Adam finished off the other three in rapid succession. The group as a whole then focused their fire on the sole remaining Desbrachian. Despite the durability of the Desbrachian, its lack of ranged weaponry really hurt it in this fight, for without ranged weapons, it would not be able to close in with its attackers without sustaining severe damage due the withering fire that the soldiers were unleashing against it. The Desbrachian was unable to weather the massive assault of Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk and after twenty seconds of constant abuse, the final Desbrachian had been felled. That left only MB and three "unfreezable" Metroids to contend with. The Metroids could be defeated easily enough if they were frozen by the combined Freeze Gun assault.

Once the threat of the Desbrachians was eliminated, the trio of Galactic Federation soldiers turned their attention to the so-called unfreezable Metroids. They targeted the Metroids with their Freeze Guns and fired several volleys of ice blasts at the approaching Metroids as they backed away from the energy-based predators. It was not long before the combined fire from Adam and the others managed to freeze the Metroids. The frozen Metroids promptly fell to the ground and clattered onto the floor. Adam drew his assault rifle while Kreatz and Mauk drew out a photon and a plasma grenade respectively. They tossed the grenades to their respective frozen Metroids while Adam riddled his frozen Metroid with a barrage of bullets, quickly shattering the Metroid with his sustained fire. Kreatz and Mauk's Metroids looked like they were about to break free of the ice when the grenades detonated. The plasma grenade bathed the Metroid it had landed near with a bright blue flame, proceeding to shatter said Metroid, while the photon grenade had outright annihilated its Metroid. Now, only MB was left. However, the others were about to learn that she was by far the most dangerous of the enemies present, even without support from any of the other bioweapons present in Sector Zero.

MB quickly appeared before Adam and before he could raise his assault rifle or Freeze Gun to shoot her, her fist impacted the side of his abdomen. Even through the armor, he could feel her hit as if a human boxer had scored a direct hit on his abdomen without the use of gloves as the force of the impact of her backfist had sent him flying. He sailed through the air and landed near a science station. Adam was slow to rise, grunting and holding his side as he struggled to stand. Meanwhile, Kreatz and Mauk turned to face MB and promptly opened fire on her with their heavy weapons. MB was quick to dodge the aims of the two Federation soldiers and managed to avoid the plasma blasts that they unleashed against her. She quickly charged Mauk, the stronger of the two and went to punch him. However, before she could strike, she was quickly ensnared by several of Kreatz's laser whips and pulled backwards towards the elf-like soldier. Mauk then charged the young-looking android and punched her in the head with his full strength. The force of his fist striking her caused MB's head to recoil. Despite the recoil, though, she suffered no damage. She then turned and grabbed Kreatz's laser whips and pulled him towards her. Kreatz, surprised by MB's strength, was unable to resist her pull and he went sailing towards her. MB quickly pulled back her own fist and grinned, waiting to line up her fist with Kreatz's head. She had a clear shot and both she and Kreatz knew that if she connected with him, her punch would likely be strong enough to decapitate the elf.

MB, however, was surprised by a blast of ice erupting from Adam's Freeze Gun as he rose from the floor. His grip was unsteady, however, he still managed to hit the android with his blast. The burst of freezing energy struck MB and spread out from its point of impact. The ice quickly encased the android and froze her solid. Kreatz's momentum carried him into the android and knocked her over, but even as the frozen android struck the ground, she did not shatter. This took the group of Federation soldiers by surprise. What was worse was that the ice was quickly beginning to melt. Adam and Mauk quickly took aim with their assault rifles and Chozo Energy Rifles respectively, and opened fire on MB. MB, however, had completely thawed before the bullets and blasts of energy had managed to reach her and they struck her body, inflicting minimal damage to her android body, with the bullets bouncing harmlessly off of her metallic body. She turned to face them and wagged her finger. "You should know that such weaponry is insufficient to take me down," she chided arrogantly as Adam and Mauk drew back in surprise, preparing to launch their next strike.

Kreatz quickly rose from the floor and quickly rejoined his friends so that they could present a united front against MB. MB casually walked around the bridge, her gaze focused on the trio, a grin plastered on her face. "You Federation fools think you're so powerful," she said in a dark tone. "You think that you can control us, use us as you see fit. Ha!" she exclaimed, not bothering to hide her contempt for Adam and the others. "You were wrong! I'm still alive and I still have my army. Madeline, Samus and Colonel Mansfield only managed to destroy an android replica of me on the _Bottle Ship_. I'm still alive, and I am not so easily defeated! And I will make you pay for what you tried to do to me!" she cried as she launched her next assault.

She charged towards the three Federation soldiers as they took aim once more and opened fire on her. The soldiers quickly realized that despite her lack of ranged weaponry, she was still a very dangerous foe since her speed allowed her to close with them fairly quickly. She did so and before they could pull the triggers of their respective weapons and fire. Each of them then found themselves flying through the air due to MB's flurry of punches. They each landed in different sections of the Command Center and were slow to rise. This was bad because now MB could focus on any one of them individually and not immediately have to worry about the other two. In this state, she would easily be able to pick them off one by one. It suddenly struck them that there was a very real possibility that the bioweapons that they had faced were imperfect versions of the weapons that she had developed. And if they were not, she may have been holding them back to lull them into a false sense of security. Despite her calling them her children, they could not help but notice that she was not all that distraught over losing any of her bioweapons when they had killed them before engaging her.

MB slowly approached the fallen Adam Malkovich, who was struggling to rise. He clutched his side, not knowing whether or not he had a broken rib or not. MB grinned as she walked towards him. What made things worse for Adam was the fact that he had dropped his Freeze Gun when he had landed and it had also skidded a few feet away from him. MB stopped as she stood over the Freeze Gun, looking down. She stooped down and picked it up and walked over to him, pointing the gun at his head. "I know that you made a report on the viability of Metroids as weapons and presented it to the Galactic Federation Council," she said in a superior tone.

"I also outlined the dangers posed by such a project, and as such, I disapproved of its development," he countered. "I also would never have approved of your creation. At least, not for the purposes that the scientists made you for."

"Don't make me laugh," MB scoffed. "I know damn well that if you thought that the dangers did not outweigh the risks that you would have approved of the project. The control I have over the bioweapons here is probably something that you covet at the moment."

"You're wrong," Adam replied calmly. "I have enough respect for life to know that what they did here was wrong. What they tried to do to you was even worse. Don't let Mother Brain's personality control you, MB. It's not too late. We can still stop those who wanted to hurt you."

MB merely laughed. "It's too late for me, Adam. I like what I've become. And you'll be my first…" but MB never had a chance to finish her sentence, for Kreatz and Mauk simultaneously fired their own Freeze Guns at the android. Their blasts converged on MB and expanded as they struck, encasing her in a block of ice.

Adam then drew his assault rifle and took aim at the frozen android, determined to destroy her before she managed to thaw and continue her attack, but also feeling a shred of sympathy for her plight and for what the scientists on the _Bottle Ship_ had done to her. Still, he knew what he had to do in order to protect the galaxy, for if he wavered now, she would inflict her wrath on the rest of the galaxy and a lot of innocent people would suffer. He then proceeded to pull the trigger and kept it back as the assault rifle unleashed a hail of gunfire on MB. Kreatz also joined in, tossing a photon grenade and tossed it at MB. The grenade landed near the falling body of MB and came to rest just before her. Adam's bullets tore through her body, gouging multiple holes into it and the android proceeded to fall on the grenade. The grenade detonated three seconds later, blowing apart MB's body. Her head flew away from the annihilated torso and rolled across the Command Center. Smoke rose from the neck, gray metal showing underneath burned off synthetic flesh. Adam approached the head of the fallen MB and took aim with his assault rifle. "You left us no choice, MB," Adam said regretfully as he fired on the head of the robot, piercing it with many rounds until it fell apart and was nothing more than a collection of gears and rent metal.

Once the head of MB was destroyed beyond what Adam believed to be the ability to repair, he ascended the large staircase, followed by Kreatz and Mauk. "So, what now, sir?" Kreatz asked Adam.

"Now, we destroy Sector Zero and wipe out the greatest mistake that members of the Galactic Federation have ever made," he responded in a dark tone. His tone was not directed towards Kreatz or Mauk, but it was evident that he had not approved of these projects that were conducted by Federation scientists. He approached the control console that controlled the functions of Sector Zero.

"Can you destroy Sector Zero from here?" Kreatz asked.

"Sector Zero had emergency controls that allowed it to destroy the entire _Bottle Ship_ in the event of an emergency," Adam explained. "The only controls for the emergency core of Sector Zero are here."

He typed in a series of commands into the computer and an image appeared on the screen. It was a picture of the energy core of the sector. The data terminal read, _Energy core containment system functioning at 100%. Life-support systems at 100%. Communications array down. One ship located inside Storage Bay One. No ships detected within a one million kilometer radius of Sector Zero_.

_Good_," Adam thought. There were no other ships in the area. There was no risk of some Good Samaritan coming to save any survivors on this sector only to be overwhelmed and mauled by the bioweapons onboard the station. He then typed another series of commands into the console. A female computer voice soon echoed across the entirety of the bridge, "Command interface activated. State authorization code for full command access to Sector Zero mainframe."

Adam responded, "Commander General Adam Malkovich of the Galactic Federation Army. Authorization Code Two-One-Two-Eight-Seven-Four-Pi-Omega."

The computer screen flashed for a second before the computer responded, "Authorization code accepted. Welcome to Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_ General Malkovich."

Adam approached the console and said in a loud, clear voice, "Initiate autodestruct sequence!"

The screen flashed before the computer's voice said, "Standing by for final command code for five minute autodestruct countdown."

"Code, One-One-Alpha."

"Autodestruct sequence activated. Please evacuate immediately." The alarm klaxons immediately started to blare.

Adam then rushed away from the console and called out to the two, "Job's done, you two, let's go!"

He did not have to tell Kreatz and Mauk twice as they proceeded to follow Adam down the stairs and out the door into the corridor. The trio began their dash back to Samus's gunship as the timer counted down. They rushed down the corridor, not stopping to deal with the other bioweapons onboard the ship, only firing in order to stun or get any of the weaker bioweapons like the Reos or Zebesians out of their way as they surged past.

The three of them quickly came to an elevator and proceeded to board it and ride it up a few levels until it stopped and the doors opened. Upon opening, several Zebesians were revealed to be standing there, as if waiting for the trio. Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk drew their weapons and opened fire on the clone Space Pirates. Adam managed to fell one of the Zebesians and Kreatz and Mauk froze the others as they charged past the Zebesians and down the corridor. As they made their path back to the Cargo Storage Bay, they passed several dormant Desbrachians and took wide paths around them in order to keep them from awakening. As they continued along their path, they encountered groups of Zebesians that took shots at the group. Blue pulses of energy flew around the heads of the Federation soldiers. The aim of the Zebesians was wild, though, and they failed to score any hit on the Federation soldiers as they rushed past. The soldiers rushed towards a large set of doors that closed as soon as they stepped through them.

After they were through the doors, they went down the corridor that would take them to the Cargo Storage Bay. Along the way, a Rhedogian blocked their path and roared at them as it was about to unleash a powerful laser blast at the trio. But before they had to face the Rhedogian, the massive beast was accosted by a group of Metroids. The trio holstered their weapons and made a mad dash past the Metroids and the Rhedogian, being careful to not draw the attention of the feasting Metroids as they made their way past. After making their way past the Metroids and the Rhedogian, they ducked into the Cargo Storage Bay and ran straight towards Samus's gunship. Adam took one look at the gunship and wondered for a second if this was really Samus's current gunship since it was of a different design to the ship that she had used when she had come to the _Bottle Ship_ earlier. He banished his curiosity as his sense of self-preservation took over and he rushed towards the ship, with Kreatz and Mauk hot on his heels.

The three then stepped onto the hatch. After they were on the hatch, it rose and carried them into the ship. Once inside, Mauk took the pilot's station and activated the ship's engines. Once they started, he lifted off the ship and turned it towards the exit. He then deployed the missiles of Samus's gunship and armed them, proceeding to fire them at the Cargo Bay doors. The missiles blew out the doors and the ship rushed out into space as explosions rocked the Cargo Bay. The ship sped away from the doomed sector as numerous explosions rocked the sector. After a few seconds, one massive explosion finally consumed the entire sector in a bright flash of light and fire, along with each and every one of the bioweapons that had been onboard. On the ship, Kreatz took the co-pilot's seat and sat back, a look of relief crossing his face. He looked back at Adam, who sat down in one of the passenger seats behind them. Mauk then called over to Kreatz and back to Adam, "Next stop, planet Z-1A and Samus."

"No, not yet," Adam called up from behind. "Check to make sure that there weren't any surviving bioweapons."

In the excitement of escaping the sector, Kreatz had forgotten all about the possibility of Metroids possibly surviving in space if they were resistant to freezing. He then checked his sensor display and closely scanned the wreckage of Sector Zero. His scans soon came back negative. It appeared as if nothing had survived. He looked back to Adam and reported, "I'm not picking up any lifeforms from the wreckage, sir."

"Good," Adam replied as he breathed a sigh of relief and sank back into his seat, resting for the first time in over a week. With that, the ship jumped to warp and made the journey back to Z-1A.

Meanwhile, onboard _Research Facility 777_, General Mansfield, having taken direct control of Platoon 05 since the death of Colonel Hayes, shot several energy blasts from his energy pistol at the renegade troopers that were currently engaging his forces, felling an unfortunate renegade Federation Army Trooper. After felling the enemy trooper, he looked back to his own troops and shouted, "All squads, press on! We have to get to the Control Bridge!" Several energy blasts and bullets rang out and glanced off a wall near him, taking down a loyal Federation Army Trooper to his left, two bullet holes appearing in the trooper's chest. Mansfield quickly bent down and grabbed the fallen soldier's assault rifle and opened fire on the renegade troopers. Two enemy troopers fell to his fire and the rest of the platoon members with him followed suit, unleashing a hail of gunfire at the enemy troopers. Several more enemy troopers fell in the process, but a few of Mansfield's own troopers were also taken down by enemy fire. He would not let a few casualties stop him from accomplishing his objective. Most important of all, he had to eliminate all evidence of his own involvement in the projects onboard the _Bottle Ship_ and with its lead directors.

The platoon quickly went to the end of the corridor and turned right at the branch, following their maps to the quickest route to the Control Bridge. Barring their way were not only several squads of renegade Army Troopers, but also a squad of Zebesians. The Zebesians were the first to open fire as General Mansfield ducked back behind the wall and into the previous corridor. His three leading companions were not so lucky, and they were riddled with energy pulses and bullet holes before they could level their guns at the enemy soldiers. The soldiers practically fell apart from the withering fire and what remained of the soldiers collapsed onto the floor in front of Mansfield. The general then called back to the others, yelling, "Get a bazooka out here!"

Just then, one of the heavy weapons troopers approached the front where more Federation Army Troopers held the line against the renegade troopers and Zebesians. Mansfield could tell that this was not what they had expected in the slightest. It was not long before Platoon 06 came to reinforce Platoon 05. Major Fisher approached General Mansfield and asked, "You guys holding up okay General?"

"We've got some Zebesians in that corridor beyond us," the general answered. "We can handle it, though."

The heavy weapons trooper, a large, muscled man quickly arrived and went towards the front, where two more Federation Army Troopers fell to the Zebesians' weapons. The trooper and ducked around the corridor and saw that two Zebesians had fallen, as had four enemy Army troopers. He quickly brought up the bazooka and fired it towards the large mass of enemy soldiers. The enemy soldiers, upon seeing the bazooka, either broke ranks to flee from the missile or opened fire on the soldier hefting the massive weapon. Those that fired on the soldier managed to hit their mark and practically disintegrated the soldier with the weight of fire brought to bear against him, but not before the soldier managed to get the missile off. The missile rocketed down the corridor and fell among the troopers, detonating upon striking the ground. Its explosion decimated the ranks of the enemy forces, hurling bodies, and pieces of bodies, in all directions. Over a dozen enemy soldiers, both renegade Army and Zebesian, had been killed by the explosion, and numerous others were wounded, some of them fatally. The survivors used this opportunity to make a tactical retreat so that they could get back to more easily defensible positions. The Zebesians, not having been engineered with any great intellect, merely stood their ground and performed a holding action while the human troopers retreated. The Zebesians managed to inflict more casualties on Platoons 05 and 06, but eventually, they were cut down by the merciless onslaught unleashed against them by the Federation soldiers. General Mansfield then called to the others, ordering, "Forward! We've got them on the run!" The survivors of Platoon 05 and the soldiers of Platoon 06 followed him as they chased down the fleeing renegade Army troopers.

Back behind the main fighting, Anthony Higgs was a little more cautious, having learned some caution during the _Bottle Ship_ incident. He studied the transmissions and as he heard that Platoons 05 and 06 were pinned down, engaging large amounts of enemy resistance, he quickly checked his map for an alternate route to the Control Bridge, rightly thinking that the sooner he arrived on the bridge, the better the chances of capturing some or all of the renegade leaders were. It was not long before he did find that alternate route to the Control Bridge. He looked back at his squad commanders and told them, "Change of plans, everyone. The frontal attack is takin' too long and is getting' real messy. I also haven't heard a peep outta Platoons 08 through 10 from the _Medusa_. We're takin' an alternate route to the Control Bridge. Follow me."

The others nodded and they followed Captain Higgs down the corridor, walking past the bodies of dead Federation and renegade Army Troopers. Once he reached a fork in the path, he took the left corridor and proceeded down an unoccupied corridor. Following his map, he continued straight until he came to another fork. This time, he and the others took a right. First, he and Squad One went through. They were followed in quick succession by Squads Two through Six. Squad Seven, under the command of Damara Gomez, kept the rear guard, making sure that the rest of the platoon were not ambushed by any enemy soldiers from behind.

In the next corridor, the only resistance that Anthony and the others encountered were a group of Bulls, floating balls with a large number of eyestalks. Anthony and his squadron whipped out their assault energy rifles and opened fire on the bulls. The shots were more than sufficient to take down the floating Bulls, detonating them well away from the platoon. Toxic gas flooded the corridor once the Bulls were destroyed, though that was of little concern to Platoon 07 due to their suits' shielding and their helmets' atmospheric filters. Once the area was clear, the group proceeded through the haze and down the corridor. Once they reached a fork, they took a left turn and walked down a third corridor. This corridor had been patrolled by two Kyratians who, upon noticing them, unleashed a volley of missiles at the incoming soldiers. Anthony and the others quickly ducked back down the other corridor and let the missiles pass by and strike the wall behind them, destroying the wall but not harming any of the troopers. Anthony and the heavy weapons troopers from the platoon quickly emerged from their cover and fired volley after volley of energy blasts from their plasma cannons. The volume of plasma fire was far too great for the Kyratians to dodge, especially in the enclosed space of the corridor, and the fire too powerful for them to survive. The two Kyratians fell apart due to the withering fire unleashed by the heavy weapons specialists of Platoon 07. With the Kyratians out of the way, Platoon 07 proceeded down the corridor, encountering no further resistance.

Back in the hangar bay, Samus awaited further orders from the Galactic Federation. She wondered how everything would turn out in the end. She had lost so many friends that she dreaded that more people would die in this mission, and that two of them might be Anthony Higgs and Damara Gomez. She did not know if she could bear the loss of Anthony so soon after having lost Adam.

With that dark thought, Samus went back to listening for any further instructions from the Federation. She knew that they would call upon her to assist in the mission sooner or later. She only hoped that it would not be too late and that they did not suffer too many casualties.

Back in Sector Two, Platoons 08 through 10 made their way down a dark corridor. The lead troopers activated their searchlights on the fronts of their suits to help them, and the others, see in the dark. They cautiously made their way forward as they searched throughout the darkness for the presence of any enemies. Major Jenkins, however, was not satisfied with the slow progress of her forces. "Step it up, everyone," she ordered. "We're expected to storm the Control Bridge before the arrival of General Mansfield."

The other troopers replied, "Yes ma'am," and they increased their pace forward, not bothering to secure the corridors behind them.

Meanwhile, a few corridors back, a group of Kyratians, two Rhedogians, and an enemy known as a Dragotix, a two-headed lizard-like creature with two legs, and two heads, one which resembled a large crocodile or alligator mouth, the other much smaller and bird-like with two tentacles watched from a ledge above, waiting for the four guards who were securing the corridor to look away. Once they did, the Dragotix jumped down from its perch and quickly jumped down among the soldiers, landing on one, crushing his back. The crack of bones could be heard as the unfortunate soldier's back was broken. The smaller head of the Dragotix quickly unleashed a stream of flame against the three surviving troopers. The attack was too quick for the troopers to get off any shots and they were immediately set ablaze as the Dragotix swept his stream of flame across all three of the troopers. The troopers cried out as they flailed in agony as they were engulfed by the flames. The Dragotix made a hissing sound that resembled laughter at their suffering. The burning troopers drew out their weapons and fired wildly at the Dragotix, but their weapons were not powerful enough to put the creature down. Some of their weapons exploded as their ammunition cooked off inside the magazine. Eventually, the troopers fell over and they ceased to scream or writhe, though their bodies still continued to burn. All the while, the Kyratians, Rhedogians, and several other creatures made their way down the corridor in hot pursuit of the Federation soldiers that had infiltrated the station. They were not invaders or competitors to the bioweapons, though. To the bioweapons, they were merely food.

Not far down the corridor, Platoons 08 through 10 proceeded to make their way down the corridor at an increased rate. Soon, the screams of humans echo throughout the corridor from behind the platoons. Major Jenkins held up her fist and looked back at the other platoon commanders. She turned to Captain Allan House, the Tolkienesque elf in command of Platoon 10 and told him, "Have your platoon hang back and watch our backs. Something's attacking us from behind."

"Yes, ma'am," the elf responded. Using hand signals, he signaled for his troopers to hang back and protect their rear flank. Platoons 08 and 09 moved on ahead while Captain Allan House stayed back and waited for whatever enemies were coming to strike at his platoon so he could give them a taste of their own medicine. Soon, more screams were heard, as were the roars and rumblings of several non-human creatures as well.

"Steady, everyone," he cautioned as he sensed the nerves of the members of his platoon begin to rise. Soon, the screams and roars stopped and all they could hear were footsteps from the other corridor. The footsteps were quick in beat and they appeared to be getting louder. After several seconds, he could see shadows approaching. He and the other members of his platoon tensed as they prepared for the upcoming battle. Sure enough, soon, the enemies appeared: two Kyratians, two Rhedogians, a Dragotix, and several Zebesians.

"Fire!" Captain House cried at the top of his lungs as he emptied his entire first clip into the onrushing creatures. The first enemy to come at him, the Dragotix, suffered repeated assault to its weak spot on its abdomen from the platoon leader and soon fell amid the hail of gunfire. Blue blood leaked from the bullet wounds, but there were also traces of dried blood, indicating that this creature had been wounded in an earlier battle as well. Several energy bolts flew past Captain House's head and felled several troopers behind him. The troopers gave off short, muffled cries as they were hit and went down, never to rise again. The other troops responded by increasing their fire on the oncoming enemy soldiers. Many troopers abandoned their assault rifles in favor of their Freeze Guns. These proved to be much more effective in stopping the Kyratians and the Rhedogians, though the troopers were unable to fell the beasts before one of the Rhedogians managed to gouge a massive valley in the ranks of Platoon 10 when it fired a laser blast from one of its heads and swept it through the ranks of the platoon. Over sixteen soldiers were killed by the attack, being practically vaporized as the laser was swept over them, which only prompted the others to concentrate more fully on the Rhedogians.

All the while, Captain House activated his comm and cried, "Major Jenkins, General Mansfield, all platoon commanders, we've got bioweapons here! I've identified two Rhedogians, a number of Kyratians and some Zebesians!"

Major Jenkins then answered, "Keep them back, Captain. Protect our rear flank! We're making our way through the sector."

"Understood, ma'am," Captain House said hesitantly. He did not know if his forces would hold out against the enemy forces that were arrayed against them, especially if they summoned reinforcements.

Back to the fighting, the focus on the Rhedogians left the rest of the platoon open to the Kyratians and Zebesians, who used this opportunity to unleash a volley of missiles at the Federation Army troopers. The troopers who saw the missiles coming dove out of the way, but many more troopers were felled by this attack. Eventually, the heavy weapons troopers, those who were still alive, had managed to put down the Rhedogians, which allowed them to concentrate on the Kyratians and the Zebesians once more. The Kyratians and the Zebesians did their best to avoid the fire of the Federation troopers and put up a magnificent fight against the Federation troopers, but there were too many troopers, and not enough of them. And fighting in the enclosed space of the corridor did not allow the bioweapons to utilize their mobility advantage to as great an effect as they would have wished. Eventually, they were taken down, but not before three fifths of Platoon 10 were destroyed, among the casualties, Captain Allan House. This did not deter the rest of the platoon from moving forward and going to rejoin the main force.

In another section of the station, Dr. Nicole Carter and General Marcus Sheppard waited for the main elevator to take them to Sector Two of the station. Four Army Troopers provided escort for the two lead collaborators. Eventually, the elevator chimed and the door opened. Immediately, the two collaborators and their escort made their way out of the elevator and proceeded to make their way through a set of double doors on the other side of the room

Upon entering the set of double doors, they went through a small corridor which overlooked a simulated jungle environment. In this environment, two multi-story creatures with a single bird-like head on a long, thin, jointed neck, six spidery tree-like legs, and a large central abdomen with orange orb on its underside, called a Groganch, walked slowly across the landscape. It had the ability to shoot explosive purple orbs of energy from both its back and its mouth. This did not concern the two humans, though. The tunnel was shielded against the weaponry of the few creatures they had been breeding in this station. There was little that they had to worry about until the bioweapons were unleashed. They soon made their way through the corridor and entered a room that housed the clones of the other bounty hunters, as well as the other remaining bioweapons that had not escaped confinement. Fortunately, they were in a sealed compartment of the room and were, thus, safe from the weapons. The Federation soldiers invading the station, however, would not be.

The two quickly approached a computer console and typed a series of commands into the console. Immediately, the force fields that confined the bioweapons disappeared and the bioweapons immediately left their enclosures and proceeded to rampage through the rest of the ship. They watched as the clone bounty hunters charged from their enclosures and proceeded to enter the first corridor they had access to. The sensors on the computer indicated that a Federation invasion force was on the other side of those doors and would soon have made their way across and likely have had the weaponry to penetrate the force field that protected the two of them from the bioweapons in the case of a containment failure. With their job finished, they proceeded to make their way back the way they came, sadistic grins plastered on their faces.

Not far from the Bioweapons Research Lab in Sector Two, Platoons 08 and 09 continued to make their way forward. They were just within range of the doors that would take them to the Bioweapons Research Lab when the doors opened prematurely. Major Jenkins held her hand up, telling the troopers to stop, which they did. Major Jenkins immediately drew her assault rifle and Freeze Gun and pointed it at the opening door. The heavy weapons specialists of Platoons 08 and 09 also went up to her and proceeded to stand with her, presenting a formidable front. Just as the doors were about fully open, the remnants of Platoon 10 appeared. She looked back at them and barked, "Report!"

"Ma'am, we've suffered sixty percent losses in our engagements against the bioweapons of this station," one of the squad leaders answered.

"Damn," Jenkins swore. She knew that the fewer troops there were to face off the main force in front of them, the lesser their chances of fighting their way up to the Control Bridge. It was as if the enemy knew that there was an attack coming from behind. She soon shrugged off the thought. "Anyway, take up defensive positions get your remaining heavy weapons troopers up here. I think they're deploying the big guns."

"Yes ma'am," the trooper answered, saluting her. The remaining heavy weapons specialists of Platoon 10, along with some other troopers went up to join the Major. A line of troopers then formed in front of the major in order to protect her and the heavy weapons specialists from whatever forces were being arrayed against them. The heavy weapons troopers soon pointed their plasma cannons through the small openings in between the troopers; while the Army Missile Troopers stood behind the others, ready to launch their missiles at the oncoming horde of enemies that they knew would surge through the chokepoint of the doors.

Sure enough, the enemy forces soon made their way through. They consisted of what looked to be bounty hunters, or rather, clones of bounty hunters. Clones of Kanden and Gandrayda were the first of the clone bounty hunters to come through the entrance. Major Jenkins recognized the Gandrayda clones, but was unfamiliar with the Kanden clones. As soon as the clones stepped through the door, the Federation forces proceeded to unleash withering plasma fire on the hunters, firing their plasma cannons at the center of mass of the hunters. One of the first shots, however, managed to strike a Kanden and a Gandrayda in between the eyes and the hunters fell over with one hit. This sudden turn of events shocked the Federation troopers. At first, they wondered if it was a trick, but when the Kanden and Gandrayda did not rise to continue fighting, they thanked whatever god they worshipped for this good fortune and continued fighting the other hunters that were surging through; hunters that were taking more than one shot to kill. Soon, clones of Big Time Brannigan and Rundas appeared. Again, the soldiers fired on the heads of the hunters, proceeding to decapitate them with merely three or so shots to the head per armored hunter. The 'Big Time' Brannigan clones, beings that resembled Dessgeegas, crab-like walking creatures that stood on two long, spiked legs, wearing pink armor, and armed with energy pistols and unleashed scarlet energy pulses upon the troopers. However, before managing to score a hit, a volley of plasma blasts disintegrated their heads. It seemed as if the 'Big Time' Brannigan clones were the weakest of the hunter clones. Upon losing their heads, the 'Big Time' Brannigan clones collapsed, their legs falling to either side in the process. In the blink of an eye, the 'Big Time' Brannigan clones were all dead. The apparent weakness of the hunters did not go unnoticed by Major Jenkins.

"Everyone, the hunters have a weakness," Jenkins cried over the din. "Aim for their heads!"

With that, the entirety of the defensive line proceeded to target the hunters' heads and a large number of hunters went down before they even managed to fire. Volley after volley of energy fire was unleashed at the clone hunters, felling them with little more than single hits if the heads were hit. Anywhere else on the body, however, only scored a small amount of damage, relatively speaking. A Weavel clone eventually managed to get through the door, along with a Rundas and Kanden clone, and spread out, making it harder for the Federation soldiers to hit them in their weak spots. Once they had spread out, they proceeded to fire Federation variants of their special weapons, massive blasts of ice and electrical attacks from a weapon known as a Volt Driver. Both the ice attack and the Volt Driver blasts were slow, but the Volt Driver's blast had the ability to home in on a target and, thus, was difficult to avoid, especially in enclosed spaces. As such, while the ice blast was easily evaded by the heavy weapons troopers and their bodyguard, the Volt Driver managed to find its mark, one of the bodyguard for the heavy weapons troopers. The attack felled the trooper, the electrical blast burning frying the trooper to a crisp and leaving little more than a charred skeleton and armor, and the line quickly formed up tighter in order to protect the heavy weapons troopers. However, more hunters were making their way into the corridor. In addition, they were also now being flanked by Kyratians, Rhedogians, and bipedal reptilian bird-like creatures with purple skin. The Federation troops continued to fire on the clone hunters and their escorts, managing to fell a great deal of them. The bodies were beginning to pile up near the door, which merely caused the entry point to decrease in size, making it easier to shoot any and all incoming enemies. But there were too many clone hunters and other bioweapons for the platoons to deal with for them to be able to either make their way past or even hold out for long. For every hunter or other creature that fell, four more rose up in its place, and soon, the bodies that were piled up at the door were pushed through by some of the stronger hunter clones and other bioweapons, widening the entrance once more. Not only that, but soon, the platoons were about to be put into a pincer maneuver, for there were many bioweapons coming up from behind. While the clone hunters exchanged fire with the front ranks of Platoons 08 and 09, the rearguard troopers were engaged by another group of bioweapons, cutting off any hope of escape.

Cries erupted from the rearmost lines of the Federation soldiers and Major Jenkins turned to face the rear and found a small army of Zebesians, Reos, and Skrees, bat-like creatures with sharp wings that were used to burrow into the ground should they fail to grab their prey on their first dive. They began dive-bombing the Federation Army Troopers and were tearing the rear ranks of the Federation Army soldiers apart. More soldiers turned around to fire on the attacking Skrees, as well as the Zebesians that were coming at them from their rear. Since these were clones of normal Zebesians, rather than cybernetically enhanced Zebesians, they were not very durable and single volleys of bullets were more than sufficient to take them down. Still, there were too many Reos, Skrees, and Zebesians when combined with the clone hunters to their front for them to hold out.

"Major, we're being overwhelmed!" one of the soldiers cried out.

It was then that Major Jenkins activated her comm unit and cried into it, "General Mansfield, we're under attack by clones of bounty hunters Gandrayda, Rundas, and others! We need reinforcements now!"

The sounds of fighting echoed through her speakers as the voice of General Mansfield crackled in over the radio in reply, "I can't do that right now! We've got problems of our own here."

"Well call up Samus, summon reinforcements from the _Loki_, pray for a miracle, just do something! We won't hold out for much longer!"

Her comm soon cut off and Jenkins swore. She knew that there were no reinforcements forthcoming for her team. This would be her last stand. But she would make it a stand that was worthy of legend. She saw her bodyguard already falling due to the weight of fire coming at her forces. The cries of the wounded and dying from both in front of and behind her assaulted her ears. She soon gripped her assault rifle and gave a cry as she charged forward towards the clone bounty hunters along with the rest of her heavy weapons specialists. Jenkins and the others sprayed bullets and energy fire at the heads of the clone hunters and proceeded to fell many of them. However, the Federation troopers knew that it was a losing battle. Despite this, they fought valiantly, and seemingly all of the clone hunters were felled. However, even with the clone hunters having been dealt with, the other bioweapons were simply too much for Jenkins and the rest of the Federation forces. Jenkins and the others were eventually killed by the innumerable bioweapons that were assailing them and their remains were devoured by the Skrees, Reos, Zebesians, and other bioweapons present. By the end of the battle, all of the soldiers in Platoons 08 through 10 were dead, surrounded by the bodies of many more bioweapons, who were also being fed upon by the other surviving bioweapons.

On the other side of the door, General Sheppard and Nicole Carter smiled as they heard the screams of Federation troopers dying as they engaged the numerous bioweapons that they had unleashed upon them. The enemy at the rear had been taken care of. All that left now was General Mansfield's forces. They then proceeded to turn to leave the room and make their way back up to the Control Bridge. Upon walking through the doors, a horrible sight greeted them, for standing in front of them was none other than a space dragon that greatly resembled a pristine Ridley. However, the two humans were unfazed, for they knew this Ridley. After all, this Ridley was one of their first bioweapons that had been developed here onboard this station. However, they had not anticipated Ridley being freed, for he was supposed to have been confined to Sector One, a lava-based sector. Nicole Carter stepped forward and said, "Ridley, what are you doing here? You should be in Sector One."

The Ridley clone merely grinned and lowered his face to meet those of Dr. Carter and General Sheppard. He then roared at the top of its lungs at the two humans. Dr. Carter and General Sheppard scowled at this rebellious display. "What is this all about?" Sheppard roared arrogantly, slapping Ridley on the beak. His slap did not faze the terrifying creature one bit. "Return to your enclosure," he commanded arrogantly, pointing behind Ridley. Evidently, they had believed that there was a control placed on Ridley and that said control would force Ridley to obey their commands. Whatever control had been there, though, was gone, for Ridley leaned over towards General Sheppard and then opened his mouth and bit down on the general. The general screamed in agony as Ridley bit him and then lifted him up into his mouth and swallowed him whole, the general screaming the whole way down. Nicole Carter cried in horror at the sight of General Sheppard being devoured by the pterodactyl-like creature and tried to turn away and flee. Ridley did not let her mourn the general's demise, or cower before him for long. Before she could turn and flee, the clone Ridley promptly unleashed a stream of plasma on Nicole Carter, engulfing her in flames. Dr. Carter screamed in agony as she flailed and ran around in circles, ablaze. Ridley laughed at the sight of the pathetic human screaming her lungs out in agony as she flailed around, burning. His laughter was monstrous, unnatural, and full of malice and evil. Eventually, she fell to the ground and ceased her crying and writhing. Just for good measure, Ridley stepped on her flaming corpse, the crunch of bones sounding beneath his feet and echoing throughout the corridor. Once he was certain that the human was dead, he proceeded to fly away.

Back in the main sector, a few rooms away from the Control Bridge, General Mansfield heard the cries of the soldiers of Platoons 08 through 10 over his comm as he continued to push towards the Control Bridge. He knew that he needed reinforcements now. He opened a channel to the _Loki_ and cried, "Captain Bridges, tell the remaining troopers on the _Loki_ to suit up and get ready. We're facing tougher resistance than expected. We need reinforcements."

"Yes, General," the captain of the _Loki_ responded over the radio. General Mansfield breathed a sigh of relief and then opened another channel to Samus in the main hangar bay, saying, "Samus, we need you."

"I'll be there," Samus responded over the radio.

Over in the hangar bay, Samus shut down her radio and proceeded to leave the hangar bay and proceed towards the Control Bridge.

On the Control Bridge, General Cutter looked over at Clarice and said, "Status of the defense."

"The Federation Platoons Zero-Eight through Ten have been exterminated," she reported. "However, General Mansfield's forces have fought their way to our front door. With the bioweapons confined to their various sectors, though, it is doubtful that we will be able to hold out."

"Thank you," General Cutter said. He then approached the girl and told her quietly, "Come with me. I have need for your services."

"Yes, sir," Clarice responded as she followed the General.

He and Clarice then left the Control Bridge, leaving Chamolos, Drayka, and Eiden to fend for themselves against the Galactic Federation Army, and Samus Aran, without even knowing that the general and his psychic cohort were missing.

In another part of the galaxy, Prime Samus Aran's gunship emerged from warp and Kreatz looked out the cockpit window and did not see any sign of the Space Pirate frigate. "The frigate's gone," he observed, with notes of both fear and hope in his voice.

"I'm scanning the colony for life signs now," Mauk announced.

Adam looked out the window and soon said, "You won't have to."

The others looked back at him and asked, "Why not?"

Adam pointed straight ahead and the two looked out the cockpit window and saw an Olympus-class battleship staring back at them. Already, Anhur and Aries-class transports and Stiletto-class starfighters were departing the ship and heading down to the planet. Mauk scanned the ship and saw that it was the _G.F.S. Olympus_.

"Looks like Admiral Dane's come to join the party," Kreatz noted.

Mauk activated his sensors and scanned the colony and read numerous human life signs down on the surface in the colony's general vicinity, in addition to a few Space Pirates as well. He also quickly located Samus's bio signature in the center of the colony. "Found her," he announced to Adam and Kreatz.

As they were about to head down to the surface, two Stiletto-class fighters came up and flanked them. "Unknown pilot of Samus Aran's gunship, identify yourself now," a gruff voice rang in over the comm.

Kreatz and Mauk gave a chuckle. "This is Commander Mauk of the Galactic Federation Marine Corps. I was given command authorization of this ship by Samus."

After a few seconds, the fighter pilot's voice said, "Bio scan and voice print confirmed. Welcome to Z-1A Commander Mauk."

Kreatz and Mauk both smiled as the Stilettos veered away from the gunship as they took it down into the atmosphere. Boy would Samus be in for a pleasant surprise when they landed and revealed their third passenger.

Meanwhile, on the fringes of Galactic Federation space, debris from the destroyed Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_ floated through space. The remains of various bioweapons also floated throughout the debris field. None of them were still alive, and none of them could even be revived should they be found. However, drifting throughout the debris field, several pieces of metal still had an energy signature. These small pieces of metal soon stared to move towards each other, as if by magnetic attraction. It was not long before a core had formed. From other parts of the debris field, more and more metal shards and sands continued to converge on the core that was formed until a metallic android was completely reconstructed. The robot's external form soon took on the external skin pigmentation of a Caucasian human. The androgynous form soon morphed into that of a young human female as blond hair formed on the back of the android, and featureless breasts formed on her front, which were soon covered by what looked to be a simulation of clothing. Soon, the android's eyes took upon a human appearance and form. They were icy blue. MB was back. Upon the completion of her reconstruction, MB's eyes flashed in recognition. She was back online. She looked around and grinned, saying quietly, though no sound echoed through the void of space, "It will take more than that to destroy me, Commander General Malkovich."

To make matters better for her, a ship had emerged from warp merely a few kilometers away from here. She recognized the ship from her databanks as a Space Pirate Orpheon-class frigate; and from the looks of things, it seemed to have taken quite a beating. This was even better, for MB could use this as a distraction to allow herself to stow away onboard the ship, for her momentum was taking her directly towards the ship. And with her telepathic abilities, she should be able to hide her presence from them, and if she were discovered, she could use her telepathy to take control of them directly.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

On the surface of Z-1A, Prime Samus scanned the small town for any human survivors of the Space Pirate assault. There had been few casualties in the town hall where the Elite Pirates and the Pirate Commander had held a large group of human civilians hostage, but she did not know if the people in the rest of the town fared just as well. So far, though, she had found that there had been far fewer casualties than she had initially feared, or expected. Besides the bodies of a few security personnel, there seemed to be no other fatalities, so far. She uttered a prayer of thanks for that small boon, and prayed that no one else had been killed during the attack. The Pirates had not focused on having fun here. They had to have been searching for the Chozo technology that the ruins had contained. Samus did not know that most of the transports that had managed to get technology off of the planet had been shot down upon the arrival of the _G.F.S. Olympus_. And even if she had, she was still interested in what the Pirates had managed to find, wanting to know if they would return once they licked their wounds.

Not far away, the girl that Samus had saved during her battle against Ridley quickly emerged from behind a pile of rubble that looked like it had once been a vehicle of some sort and approached the bounty hunter. Samus took one look at the girl and could still see the look of fear and concern on her face. However, it was not for her own safety at the moment that held the girl's concern. "Where's my Mommy and Daddy?" Samus heard the girl ask.

She had not idea where the girl's parents were, or if they were even still alive. She still held out hope for the girl, though, since unless her parents were security officers, chances were that they were still alive, for she had not seen any dead civilians yet. Samus also knew that any of the humans that she had saved could have been her parents. Eventually, Samus answered, "I don't know. Let's look around and see if you can find them," she added, crouching down so she could talk to the girl on her level.

"Okay," the girl said hesitantly, still intimidated by Samus's imposing stature. Samus decided to calm the girl by deactivating her Power Suit. The armor vanished in a flash of golden light and instead of an armor-clad figure, a woman, still imposing at greater than six feet in height, in a white sleeveless suit with red lights on her back, stood with an energy pistol holstered at her side.

"Before we go, may I ask your name?" Samus asked in a soft, kind voice, trying to calm the girl.

"I'm Marissa," the girl said joyfully, after calming down. "Who are you?"

"I'm Samus," Samus answered with a kind smile. "Now, let's go find your parents."

The girl promptly nodded and gripped Samus's hand. With that, the two proceeded to search the town for the girl's parents. As they searched, Samus would ask if any of the people found were the Marissa's parents. Marissa shook her head. The two continued their search throughout the town for at least half an hour.

Meanwhile, back among the debris field that had once been Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_, MB floated towards the hull of the damaged Space Pirate frigate, knowing that the frigate was her only means of getting out of this sector and being able to accomplish her goals. Inch by inch, she drifted closer to the ship, until she made contact with the ship's hull. Upon touching the hull, she magnetized her feet and attached herself to the side of the _Chimera_. She had the blueprints of the ship in her memory banks and knew the exact crew complement of the frigate, as well as its defenses and equipment held onboard. She noted the hole in the ship and while this would make avoiding detection while infiltrating the ship easier, it dramatically decreased the viability of the ship in combat, or even as a transport. Fortunately, she knew of ways of repairing the ship so that it would be capable in combat should it be necessary. Making it so the transport could take her to where she wanted to go would be another matter, however, but she would deal with that later. Regardless of what happened to the frigate, though, she would survive. Despite her fragile external appearance, that of a nearly nude female human, her defenses were quite formidable. Only the strongest of anti-personnel weaponry could inflict visible damage to her body. And that was before taking into account her auto-repair abilities and the fact that her body was composed of nanites. The Pirates had nothing on the ship that would permanently put her down. She walked around the hull of the starship and made her way to the hole in the side of the ship. As she walked, she hoped that the Pirates would not be able to reactivate their shields until she had already entered the ship. Eavesdropping on internal communiqués, though, she found that they were a long ways away from managing to restore their shields, and that even the emergency force fields and sealing panels were down. With that, she walked towards the hole without concern. She soon arrived at the hole and proceeded to enter it.

Upon entering the breach, and the ship, the ship's artificial gravity took hold of her and she fell to the metallic floor. She struck the floor with a thud, or what would have been a thud had there been any air in the sector. She took a moment to get her bearings before turning to her right and proceeding to make her way down the airless corridor towards a part of the ship that was pressurized, and likely occupied. She walked until she found a large set of doors. She approached the doors without a care in the world and opened them. Air rushed out from the pressurized room into the airless corridor. The rush of air blew an unfortunate Zebesian technician into the corridor as MB walked past, completely unaffected by the rush of air. She then closed the door behind her, causing the Zebesians to suffocate in the airless corridor.

On the other side of the doors, she found two Zebesian Space Pirates making repairs to the ship. They were clad in gray engineering garb that looked like it would be better suited for humans rather than the Space Pirates. Upon spotting her, the Zebesians quickly removed their garb, revealing gray battle armor, and charged her, firing energy beams from their wrist guns. The yellow energy blasts struck MB and burned a series of small black marks into her body. MB, however, merely looked down at the external damage and smiled as the small burns disappeared, first appearing gray, then the color shifting to her current form's skin tone of a Caucasian human female. She grinned at the Pirates before charging them. She disappeared from their sight and reappeared in between the two Pirates and raised her hands. She then struck both Pirates in their bird-like heads, the crack of bones echoing throughout the corridor, and the Zebesians fell to the floor, either unconscious or dead. MB then went over to their discarded clothing and placed it on her own body. She then took their wrist guns and mounted them on her own arms. She then took aim at their heads and fired on them, making certain that they were dead. Once she was certain they were dead, she continued on her way through the ship.

Meanwhile, onboard _Research Facility 777_, General Archie Mansfield led Platoons 05 and 06 through the corridor that led straight to the station's Control Bridge. The renegade soldiers, however, were not making his advance easy, though. His forces were paying a heavy price for their advances in blood. The bodies of dead Federation and renegade troopers were littering the corridor as General Mansfield was slowly pushing back Cutter's forces to the Control Bridge. While his forces held the edge in numbers and weaponry, Cutter's soldiers knew the station inside and out, and had been ambushing his forces during their long march to the Control Bridge. A soldier popped out from a service duct above the troopers and rained down bullets onto Platoons 05 and 06. Multiple bullets tore through Major Fisher, killing him instantly, and while the return fire managed to kill the ambusher, the renegade soldier had managed to kill or wound two more Federation soldiers before dying. Still, there was no place left for the enemy soldiers to fall back to. The renegade troopers of General Cutter's private army had their backs to the Control Bridge. General Mansfield grinned. It was only a matter of time before he managed to break through and get onto the Control Bridge. What he did not know was that he had some competition for getting onto the Control Bridge.

In another part of the station, Captain Anthony Higgs and his platoon were making their way through another corridor towards the Control Bridge. Just then, one of his troopers held up his hand, signaling for everyone to stop. This trooper not only held an assault energy rifle, but also a scanner. "What is it, Lieutenant?" Higgs asked.

"Sir, I'm reading four non-human life signs up ahead in the next corridor," the male trooper responded.

Higgs then activated his comm and said, "Squad leaders, get ready. It looks like we've got a lot of fight up ahead."

The squad leaders acknowledged him and relayed the information to their subordinate troops. Anthony soon charged his new plasma cannon and took point as he led the platoon down the next corridor. In the next corridor, two small, white furry creatures on bird-like legs with rodent-like ears stood in front of two large, purple quadrupedal lizard-like beasts with white fur on their backs, elongated heads, claws on their feet, and long segmented tails with sharp growths on the ends of them. Anthony instantly recognized the purple beasts as the adolescent forms of Ridley from his mission onboard the _Bottle Ship_. He did not know what the white creatures were, but considering that they were small, and not getting devoured by the Adolescent Ridleys, he figured that they were Juvenile Ridleys. Wasting no time, he took aim with his cannon and fired at one of the beasts, while two other heavy weapons soldiers fired a series of missiles at the second. Anthony's plasma blast burned into the underside of his adolescent Ridley clone and knocked the creature onto its back. He knew that the creature was not dead yet, but it would be soon, for he fired several subsequent blasts into the creature. Missiles launched from the other troopers promptly struck the second creature and proceeded to blow it apart. The blast radius also managed to kill the two smaller creatures, known as Little Birdys, and further wound the remaining already dying Adolescent Ridley. A final subsequent blast from Anthony's plasma cannon finished off the first creature. With that threat out of the way, he bellowed, "Status! Any casualties?"

A chorus of negatives was his answer. He smiled. It seemed as if these soldiers _were_ the best of the best, despite the youth of some of them. He had heard of the reports of heavy casualties being suffered by the other platoons. So far, his forces were coming out the best, though he chalked that up to not engaging the main force of the renegades. He suddenly began to wonder why General Mansfield had taken such a direct route to the Control Bridge. He had to have known that the Control Bridge would be heavily guarded against intruders, even if the security systems were down. The casualties that the other platoons were taking indicated that they had either been ambushed, or there were far more enemy forces than the general had initially expected. Possibly both, for Anthony had not expected to face off against two adolescent Ridleys on his way to the Control Bridge. He did not think about it too much, though, and he made his way down the corridor, and closer to his objective.

In the next corridor, stood several renegade Army troopers in full combat gear with heavy plasma cannons, waiting for Anthony and his troopers. As Anthony ducked into the corridor, the troopers opened fire on him. One of his troopers quickly grabbed him and pulled him back, saving him from being blown apart by the volley of plasma blasts unleashed by the renegade troops. One of the troopers then pulled out a fragmentation grenade and bounced it off the wall and into the next corridor. The grenade exploded and a series of cries rang out. Several more troops then entered the corridor and saw two dead renegade troopers and three wounded troopers. The Platoon 07 troopers opened fire on the wounded enemy troopers, felling them and permanently neutralizing their threat. Once that line of defense was broken, Anthony saw a set of doors at the end of the corridor. He checked his map and found that on the other side of those doors was the Control Bridge for the station.

"We're here," he announced to the others. "Note that we want to capture the ringleaders of this operation alive, and preferably unharmed. We need them to testify before the Council so that we'll know who else, if anyone, was involved with the projects on the _Bottle Ship_ and this research station. Doctor Bergman said that there were others from the government that were involved in the _Bottle Ship's_ projects, and as seen here, it looks like they've started up again."

"Yes sir," came the chorus of responses by the rest of Platoon 07. With that, they proceeded towards the doors. Anthony slung his plasma cannon over his shoulder and proceeded to draw his Freeze Gun. This way, he could still fight off any enemies, while only shooting at the lower extremities of anyone who resisted so that he would merely freeze or shatter an enemy's legs, rather than his or her entire body should the enemy's body hit the floor. The rest of his platoon also drew their freeze guns, thinking along the same lines as their leader.

In another part of the station, Samus Aran charged through the corridors of the sector, keeping tabs on everything that was happening. Her HUD displayed the status of all known platoon leaders and their respective platoons. She saw the names of the platoon leaders of Platoons 05, 06, and 08 through 10 darken and vanish. She lowered her eyes for a second to pay her respects. She also soon saw the labels of Platoons 08 through 10 vanish as well, indicating that they were completely annihilated. Her eyes went wide at the sight of them vanishing. Soon, she would have trouble of her own, for two globs of yellowish liquid soon struck her suit, taking out ten units of energy per hit. Just then, she felt herself being squeezed and soon involuntarily rose into the air, as if caught in some telekinetic grip. In the air, she was whipped about, as if a predator were trying to break her neck. She was then slammed down into the ground, a massive thud echoing throughout the corridor. She struggled to rise as she was grabbed once again and thrown down onto the floor. This time, she managed to rise more quickly and powered a missile. Then, she waited for the opportune moment, for she recognized that she was being attacked by a cloaked enemy, but that the enemy did not seem to be as intelligent as a human. She soon saw another glob of yellow liquid arc her way and she stood still, letting it hit her, as she fired the missile at the location where the glob had come from. The missile detonated a few meters away and a purplish bipedal chameleon-like creature with a long tail was revealed as it was thrown back a few meters. Samus gasped. It was a Ghalmanian. They were adept at close combat, but save for the liquid that they would spit, they had no mid to long-range attacks. More importantly, they had only been known to have been seen onboard the _Bottle Ship_ which had since been destroyed. _How could these creatures be here_? she wondered. She also wondered what else might be on this station. Samus smartly backed away from the creature and powered her plasma beam. Once it was fully charged, she unleashed it upon the creature. The burst of green plasma struck the creature in the chest, knocking the creature to the floor in the process. Samus made certain to finish the creature by charging it and grabbing it in a headlock. She then wrestled it to the ground, charging her Plasma Beam in the process, and fired a single burst, which took off the creature's head. She then let the rest of the corpse hit the floor. With that threat neutralized, she walked past the fallen Ghalmanian and proceeded down the next corridor.

In the next corridor, Samus faced off against another ghost from the _Bottle Ship_, a Gigafraug. This creature resembled an Earth frog or toad in overall appearance, but had the physical features of several other Earth creatures, such as the tail of a dolphin, the head shaped like that of a whale, and the antlers of a moose. The creature's skin, however, was blue for the back and legs while it had a soft, pink underbelly. The Gigafraug jumped high into the air towards Samus and tried to land on her in an attempt to crush her. Samus sense-moved out of the way and proceeded to turn and fire at the beast's unshielded rear. A charged Plasma Beam shot erupted from Samus's arm cannon and struck the Gigafraug in the weak spot, inflicting damage to the creature. However, the creature was far from finished. The frog-like creature turned and tried to charge Samus. She sense-moved out of its way and charged a Super Missile. When she was behind the creature, she unleashed her Super Missile on the beast, which struck the creature in its weak spot and promptly blew it apart. After the battle was over, she continued down the corridor, wary of the potential dangers that she would likely be facing.

On the Control Bridge, Chamolos, Drayka, and Eiden prepared themselves for battle. They put on personal force field projectors and armed themselves with energy assault rifles. They quickly checked the energy levels of their rifles and their force field projectors to make sure that they had sufficient energy and that they were undamaged. The other renegade Army Troopers that were loyal to them also readied their weapons. They would fire the moment the door was breached. It was not long before they heard the sound of a buzzsaw coming from the other side of the door. The troopers immediately lowered their visors and took aim at the door, ready to riddle anyone who tried to enter with energy blasts. The door made an excellent chokepoint so they merely hoped that the forces that were coming were not all that large, or had been thinned out by the other defenses in the various paths to the Control Bridge. Just then, there was an explosion and shrapnel was flung into the room. A large piece of shrapnel struck one of the renegade soldiers in the chest and felled him, blood leaking from his wound. Chamolos could tell that the trooper was dead. The other troopers filled the hole with energy fire, but their shots failed to score a single hit, for no Federation troopers charged into the room. Instead, only a duo cylindrical objects a foot or so in length clattered on the ground and rolled towards them. Chamolos knew immediately that it was likely an EMP and stun grenade combination: the EMP grenade for neutralizing force field generators and force fields, and the stun grenades for stunning any troopers inside the room. The three ringleaders quickly dove for cover to try to shield themselves from the effects of the EMP and the stun field, but it was to no avail. The two grenades detonated, the EMP grenade a split second before the stun grenade.

The EMP grenade emitted no flash of light; only the falling of the force fields and the deactivation of their energy weapons was a signal that the grenade had gone off. The stun grenade, however, did emit a bright blue field of energy. The field of energy engulfed the entire room and in less than a second, everyone inside the room was rendered unconscious. A few seconds later, a dozen troopers from Platoon 07 flooded into the room. The troopers then searched for any non-stunned personnel. Evidently, one of the troopers had not been stunned, for a trooper rose and fired a volley of bullets from his assault rifle at one of the troopers. The bullets, however, merely bounced off of the shields of the targeted trooper, leaving the trooper unharmed. The trooper turned and fired a single shot from his or her freeze gun at the foolish renegade trooper. The trooper was frozen in a block of ice and fell to the floor, where he did not shatter. However, that did the renegade trooper little good, for the freezing effect of the freeze gun was sufficient to rupture the cellular membranes of a human and kill them. Even should the trooper later be thawed, he would still be dead. "Clear!" the voice of Damara Gomez, the trooper who shot the sole remaining conscious renegade trooper cried out. After that, Anthony Higgs and the rest of the platoon flooded into the room. They quickly rounded up the unconscious renegade Army Troopers, along with Chamolos, Drayka, and Eiden, removing the armor of each and every one of them, taking their weapons and placing them in electrocuffs. It was not long before an explosion blew in another door, the exit to the Control Bridge. Suddenly, more Federation soldiers flooded into the room; among them was General Archie Mansfield. At the sight of the general, Anthony Higgs grinned. "Control Bridge secure, sir," he told him in a satisfied tone, saluting the general in the process. The general merely scowled.

"Where's Commander General Cutter?" Mansfield asked.

"I don't know," Higgs responded. "He wasn't here when we took the bridge. Let's find out." Anthony then went over to one of the unconscious ringleaders of the corrupt elements of the Galactic Federation. He quickly recognized the Speaker of the Council Chamolos lying behind a pile of debris. He went over to the Speaker of the Council and rustled him awake. "Hey Speaker, rise and shine," he said harshly.

Chamolos was slow to awaken, which caused Anthony to lift him and shake him in order to make him more alert. "Woah, stop! Stop!" Chamolos cried.

"You awake, then, Speaker of the Council?" Captain Higgs asked.

"Yes," the disgruntled alien responded. He was then assisted by a dozen Federation Army Troopers from Platoon 07. They all pointed their guns right at Chamolos's head. That definitely awakened the Speaker.

"Okay then, pay attention, for I'm only gonna ask you once."

Chamolos nodded, indicating that he understood what Anthony was telling him.

"Where's Commander General Leroy Cutter?" Anthony asked menacingly.

Chamolos looked around the room from corner to corner. A worried look crossed his face as he searched the room, but could not find General Cutter, or his psychic assistant, Clarice. He began to sweat as he faced Anthony once more. "I don't know," he answered, his dread mounting. "He was here before you guys attacked." He glanced around the room once more, still bewildered as to where General Cutter was. Anthony was not convinced and took aim at the Speaker with his plasma cannon. Two members of Platoon 07 stepped away from the Speaker as Anthony retracted his visor and gave a grin. "Honest, I don't know where he is!" Chamolos insisted. "He was here before you guys came charging in!"

"Chances are he ran once he realized that the defenses he placed around the room were going to be overrun," Damara offered to Anthony, who was now placing his plasma cannon back on his backpack.

"No, he wouldn't do that," Chamolos told the female trooper. "We told Dr. Carter and General Sheppard to release the bioweapons from their confinement. The bioweapons, those that aren't ready for deployment yet, are in Sectors One, Two, and Three. The only other hangar bay, besides the main hangar bay, is in Sector One. That's infested with the strongest of bioweapons."

"What kinds of bioweapons?" Anthony asked harshly.

"The strongest: Rhedogians, Adolescent Ridleys, at least one full grown Ridley, Brug Masses, Groganches, even a couple Desbrachians. There's no way he'd be able to survive the trip to his escape fighter."

"And what is his escape fighter?" General Mansfield asked.

"It's an old variant of an advanced Cornerian fighter known as an Arwing. It is a hyper-light capable starfighter that has light capital ship grade shielding. It's in an emergency escape hangar in Sector One. There's no way that he'd manage to get there without encountering some of the bioweapons of Sector One."

Mansfield then activated his comm and said, "Samus, we have hit a snag. General Cutter managed to escape us and is headed towards Sector One. You're closer to the main elevator that can take you to the sector. Be careful, there are some powerful enemies in that sector. General Cutter's going to go for a starfighter known as an Arwing. If you get to it, destroy it and bring General Cutter back to the _Hermes_."

"Got it, General," Samus's voice crackled in over the comm. I'm heading to Sector One now."

General Mansfield turned to Anthony Higgs and told him, "Captain Higgs, take your platoon and assist Samus apprehending Commander General Cutter. She may need some help in making her way through the sector and getting to the general before he evacuates the station."

"Yes sir," Anthony responded, saluting the general. He then turned to his platoon and called, "Alright everyone; let's move out!" He and the other members of Platoon 07 then filed out of the room and began their trek towards Sector One.

Once Anthony and the rest of Platoon 07 was out of the room, he went over to the new platoon commanders and told them, "Okay, get the captives out of here and get back to the _Hermes_. From there, take everyone back onto the _Loki_. We'll be able to debrief the captives on the ship."

"Yes sir," the troopers responded. It was then that the rest of the remnants of Platoons 05 and 06 took the captive renegade Army troopers out of the room; everyone except for General Mansfield and a dozen Army Troopers that wore force field generators and were armed with assault energy rifles.

Once the troopers were all gone, General Mansfield went to awaken Drayka and Eiden as well. "Good show," Chamolos told him. "We should have full reign to capture the _Loki_ and use it to launch our attack."

"Not yet," Mansfield replied. "There are still too many loyal troops onboard the _Loki_. However, that should soon change. I told Captain Bridges to call in all of the troops. They'll be using the breaching pods and transports to board the station."

"But that will bring in enough troops to inflict severe losses to our bioweapons!" Eiden countered.

"Yes, but it will also remove the greatest threat onboard the _Loki_," General Mansfield explained. "We then take over the ship and use it to go to Daiban and crash it into Galactic Federation HQ. From there, we use them kill Elric and Cyrus. After that, we'll take down the bioweapons and convince the Council that we need a stronger military, not mere planetary defense forces. Once we get that enhanced military that's loyal to _us_, we'll be able to do away with the Council without any resistance and take over without any further resistance."

"Sounds like a plan," Drayka said in anticipation.

"What about General Cutter?" Eiden asked.

"What about him?" General Mansfield responded. "Sometimes, for missions to succeed, sacrifices have to be made."

That was the only answer that Eiden needed to hear. He then gave a smile as he let General Mansfield and the troops loyal to him guide him out of the Control Bridge and back to the _Hermes_.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the _Chimera_, Commander P'Fash looked over the reports coming in all over the bridge. So far, repairs were coming along nicely. It would not be long before the ship could safely jump into warp. He did not want to stay in one area for too long, for who knew when that Galactic Federation battleship would come and finish what it started over Z-1A? Soon, a report came in from the sensor station and called, "Sir, we've received word of an incident not too far away from here, onboard a Federation station called _Research Facility 777_. There are also reports of a Federation troopship in the area as well."

"Enter its coordinates into the navigational computer," P'Fash ordered. "Once we fix our warp drive, I want to get to that station. If nothing else, we might be able to raid that troopship, assuming all of its troops are onboard the station." After pausing a bit, he quietly added, "Heck, maybe we'll even be able to take the ship itself."

"We'll only get one jump out of it, sir," the navigation officer warned.

"Then that just means that we'll need to take over the troopship or another warp capable vessel," P'Fash retorted.

"Yes sir," the officer responded. He then went back to his duties.

The others then eagerly went about their duties as well, affecting repairs to the most severely damaged parts of the ship. Their primary objective, though, was to get shields and weapons back to full power. P'Fash then sat back into his chair and chuckled. Here he was, running away from a Galactic Federation battleship, but running towards a Galactic Federation troopship with many times the complement of troops onboard. Still, if he could manage to capture that troopship, then he and his forces would be fully supplied with powerful weapons for a very long time. The potential gains that would be made if he captured that troopship were worth the risk of destruction should the troopship be stronger than he initially believed.

Down a few levels, MB stood at a console, and heard the exchange on the bridge by having hacked into the speaker systems onboard the bridge. All she could do was grin. Things could not be going better if she had planned them. This pitiful excuse for a frigate would not be able to launch an invasion of the Galactic Federation as it was. Heck, even with full repairs, it would never make it to Galactic Federation Headquarters and survive. It could, however, make a single jump to _Research Facility 777_, which housed a large number of bioweapons developed by the Galactic Federation, including the immensely powerful, though not very versatile, Desbrachians. Even better was the fact that the Pirates would do their best to take over the troopship, rather than focus on this damaged hulk of a vessel. This would allow her to fix the warp drive and take over the ship without being discovered. With the equipment found onboard either the troopship, or from the remains of the Galactic Federation soldiers, she could arm the Desbrachians with ranged weaponry, making them even more of a threat than they already were. From there, she would be able to load them onto the frigate and hopefully crash it into GFHQ in a blitzkrieg that would catch the Galactic Federation completely off guard. It was her best shot. And since she knew all of the IFF codes for the Galactic Federation, she could claim that it was a prize claimed from the Space Pirates during the battle. After all, it would not be too hard for her to simulate human life signs on the ship. She heard an alert telling the rest of the ship that the warp drive was almost repaired and to get ready for battle. She could feel that it would not take long for the _Chimera_ to make sufficient repairs to be able to jump to _Research Facility 777_. All she needed to do was wait. And she had all the time in the world.

Back on Z-1A, Samus continued to search the town for the parents of the young girl that she was babysitting since the conclusion of her fight against Ridley. They had found several groups of human colonists and archeologists, but so far, there was no trace of Marissa's parents. It did not help matters that Marissa merely referred to her parents as "Mommy" and "Daddy". When Samus asked what they looked like, she responded, "Daddy is tall, with short brown hair. Mommy is a little shorter than Daddy and has long red hair."

Unfortunately, that description fit a lot of people that Samus had encountered on her way through the town. She could not fault the girl, though. She was only four, and was still recovering from the shock of seeing Samus's fight with Ridley firsthand. After reaching a small school building, Samus saw a young couple talking to two men who wore uniforms that Samus viewed as being security uniforms. The man and woman fit Marissa's descriptions of her parents. Samus used her enhanced hearing to hear what they were saying.

"Do you have any idea where Marissa is?" the woman asked frantically. "She ran off during one of the attacks when the Space Pirates started rounding up captives."

"We don't know, Mrs. Armstrong," one of the officers responded.

"I heard some people say they saw a little girl running towards the town center."

The woman's heart sank at that statement. A worried look also crossed the man's face. "That's where Ridley stationed himself," he said almost absently.

Just then, Marissa, recognizing her parents, ran from Samus, crying "Mommy! Daddy!"

The couple turned at the sound and saw the girl rushing towards them. Their eyes lit up and they quickly ran towards the girl. "Marissa!" they cried in joy. When they reached the family fiercely embraced each other. "We were so worried about you!" they both said as they hugged her and made sure that she was unhurt.

Marissa then looked back at Samus and said, "That nice lady saved me from the evil dragon." She then pointed back towards Samus, who gave an embarrassed smile and small wave.

The parents went over to Samus and then thanked her, saying, "Thank you for saving our daughter. We don't know how to repay you."

"Succeeding in saving your daughter and knowing that she is safe is payment enough," Samus responded. For so long, she had watched as friends, comrades, and family members died all around her while she continued to live. To Samus, this was the first complete victory she had had in a long time, even with Ridley managing to survive their fight. She had saved Marissa and the civilians of this colony, the only casualties being the security forces that had been hired to protect the colony. Yes, this was a complete victory for her.

Samus watched the family reunion in front of her and the few memories that she had of her human parents came to mind. She remembered playing with her father and mother on K-2L, and her first encounter with Old Bird and Gray Voice before the fateful attack that would guide her destiny for the rest of her life. A part of her felt a wisp of sadness enter her heart and she felt more alone now than she had in a long time. Just then, a familiar voice sounded behind her, saying, "So this is why you decided to become a bounty hunter."

Samus was shocked to hear the voice and she turned to find General Adam Malkovich, her former commanding officer from her days in the Federation Military and Police Force, standing behind her, being flanked by her friends, Kreatz and Mauk, who were both grinning. Adam gave her a kind smile, but she could detect a glimpse of sadness in his smile. She gasped in surprise and hope at the sight of Adam. "Adam?" she stammered, her eyes widening in hope, scarcely believing what she saw. "Is that really you?"

"Yes, Samus," he answered. "It's me."

"But how? The _Bottle Ship_ was destroyed, as was Sector Zero, with you in it. At least that's what I was told."

Adam gave a chuckle. "Had things gone as I intended, they, and I, for that matter, would have been. But, as it turns out, the automatic self-destruct sequence of Sector Zero was damaged and when I detached the Sector from the _Bottle Ship_, the self-destruct protocols failed to activate," he explained. "If it had not been for Kreatz and Mauk's arrival, I would not have been able to destroy Sector Zero."

There was so much Samus wanted to know, and wanted to tell him. She rushed over to him and hugged him. There, they stood still for a few seconds before Samus disengaged herself from him and sheepishly said, "Sorry, sir."

Both Kreatz and Mauk gave grins while Adam gave a kind smile and replied, "Don't be."

After the embrace, she asked the first thing that came to mind, "Were there really unfreezable Metroids on Sector Zero?"

"They were not unfreezable," Kreatz burst in. "However, they were far more resistant to cold than the Metroids that I heard of. It took several blasts from our Freeze Guns to freeze a Metroid solid in Sector Zero, but they weren't completely unfreezable."

That gave Samus some relief. At least, these Metroids were still able to be destroyed if worst came to worst. "And before we left to jump, we scanned the debris field to ensure that there were no surviving freeze resistant Metroids in space," Mauk added. "The _Bottle Ship_ threat has been neutralized."

"Good. Now, I'm going to have to ask for my ship back. We have another issue," Samus told them.

"What issue?" Kreatz and Mauk asked. Adam, however, kept silent, glancing at Samus, suspecting that her answer would be. His suspicions were soon confirmed.

"The Space Pirate force that attacked the planet was led by Ridley," she answered. The eyes of her friends and Adam went wide.

"Ridley?" Adam asked. He was not expecting Ridley to be the leader of the attack since all reports had said that Ridley had died on Zebes. Had the Ridley from the _Bottle Ship_ survived? "_The_ Ridley? Not a clone?"

Samus nodded.

"How'd he manage to survive?" Mauk asked. "Zebes was destroyed, and from what you told us at our little dinner onboard the _Olympus_, Ridley had been blown to pieces in your last battle against him."

"Ridley has suffered worse, and somehow managed to either survive or return," Samus told him flatly, indicating Ridley's survival after seemingly disintegrating upon his defeat on the Space Pirate Homeworld while protecting its Leviathan Seed during the Phazon Crisis. He had later returned and launched the attack on Ceres Space Colony that resulted in the theft of the Metroid Hatchling that Samus had spared on SR388 during her mission to exterminate the Metroids and wipe out their threat. "He managed to escape before our battle had concluded. I have to find him and kill him, once and for all."

Just after she had spoken, she heard the roar of engines above her. Two Stiletto-class fighters zoomed past the quartet at close to the speed of sound. They were soon followed by the much slower moving Federation Assault Transports and even an Anhur-class patrol ship. Samus and the others then walked back to the town center, where an Aries-class transport had already landed. Galactic Federation Marines were already disembarking from the ship, and were quickly followed by Admiral Castor Dane, himself. Admiral Dane walked off the ramp of the transport and looked around, seeing the Space Pirate bodies and debris from the battle. He noted that he did not see any human casualties in the town center yet and he gave a smile. The escape of the frigate concerned him, but he could hunt the frigate later. With the kind of damage the frigate had sustained, it would be leaving a trail through normal and subspace that a blind zombie could follow. The frigate would not escape. Right now, his main objective was to secure the colony and protect it against further attack since its current defenses had been destroyed in the raid.

The chief of the town soon came forward upon seeing the Admiral and they had a small conversation before the chief went over to a damaged vehicle that still seemed to be salvageable. Admiral Dane soon noticed Samus, along with Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk and went over to them with his escort of two Marines. When he reached Samus and the others, Kreatz and Mauk saluted him. The Admiral saluted back and then turned to Samus and said, "I must commend the work you have done, here, Samus. You saved a lot of lives, here." He looked behind her, noticing that her friends, Kreatz and Mauk had kept their distance, as had their other companion, who Admiral Dane recognized to be Adam Malkovich. The Admiral's eyes widened in surprise. "Commander General Malkovich, is that you?" he asked, still startled by the appearance of a General who was thought to be dead.

"Yes, Admiral Dane, it's me," Adam responded. "Also, the threat posed by the bioweapons onboard the _Bottle Ship_ and Sector Zero of the same ship has finally been neutralized."

"Good," Admiral Dane said, his relief evident in his voice. "Now we can get you back to Galactic Federation Headquarters for debriefing. The Council will want to hear a full report of your mission. I'll tell the ship to prepare some guest quarters, assuming you don't have any alternate means of transportation."

When Adam indicated that the admiral's arrangement was fine with him, the admiral was about to contact his ship when a transmission came in over his radio. "Admiral Dane, sir," the voice said, "we've detected a group of Space Pirate holdouts not too far away from the colony."

This information did not come as a surprise to Admiral Dane. "How many?" he asked.

"About a dozen or so, sir" the voice responded.

"How far away are they?"

"About a kilometer or so east of your current position," came the answer. "They appear to be using their crashed transport as a base."

Admiral Dane smiled. "Prepare the brig for new entries. We're going to try to capture some of these Pirates," Admiral Dane told the _Olympus_.

"Understood, sir."

Admiral Dane then turned to Samus, Adam, Kreatz and Mauk and asked, "Do you wish to help us out on this one?"

Samus grinned menacingly. "Yes, sir," she said with an edge to her voice.

"Remember, Samus, the Admiral wants some of the Pirates to be brought in alive," Adam cautioned.

"I know, Adam," Samus assured him. "They can tell us how many Pirates are left and possibly where Ridley flew off to."

Kreatz and Mauk smiled at her statement, as did Adam. He knew firsthand how much she hated Ridley. She would not waste this opportunity to be able to track him down and finish him off once and for all. In her heart, Samus knew that even if she finally killed Ridley once and for all, the Space Pirates could still gain some DNA fragments and clone him once more, and that said clone would likely be just as evil as the original, but the clone would not be the original Ridley. That was what mattered to Samus the most. Still, she did not regret how she handled her fight against Ridley in the town center. While she hated Ridley with all of her heart, she would not sacrifice an innocent life just to kill Ridley. If she had, she would have been no different from the pterodactyl-like space dragon in her mind.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Kreatz blurted out in excitement. "Let's hunt some Pirates!"

Samus, Adam, and Mauk smiled at Kreatz's sentiment. Even Admiral Dane cracked a small smile. With that, Kreatz rushed off east of his current location.

"Wait!" Samus and Mauk called as they rushed off after him. Adam gave a shrug, remembering Kreatz's exuberance from his time as Kreatz's commanding officer in the Army and Police Force.

Admiral Dane activated his comm and said, "Get Alpha and Bravo Squads ready. We're going a little sooner than I expected. Tell the _Shiva_ to standby and follow us in along with its contingent of Marines."

"Yes, sir," came the response. With that, Alpha and Bravo Squads rushed to follow Kreatz, Samus, and Mauk. Adam also joined the squads as they rushed after the subsequent leaders of the assault on the surviving Pirates.

Back in the debris field of Sector Zero, the Space Pirate Frigate _Chimera_ floated, waiting for repairs to be completed so it could launch an assault on the Federation troopship not too far away. P'Fash fidgeted in his chair, waiting for his ship to be ready to jump to warp and intercept the troopship sending troops to the Federation research facility it was raiding. If he were lucky, all of the troops would be off the ship while their equipment would still be onboard. This would be the biggest score for the Space Pirates since the capture of Aurora Unit 313 on the _G.F.S. Valhalla_. And it would have an even greater effect for the Space Pirates since they would not only be able to use the ship for their own purposes, but they would also be able to use the equipment onboard to rearm and resupply their own forces. With the equipment that could be found on a fully stocked Federation troopship, the Space Pirates could become a real threat once more.

The report that Commander P'Fash was waiting for soon came. "Commander, our warp drive is sufficiently repaired for us to safely jump to the Federation research facility!"

P'Fash wasted no time issuing his command, "Go, go, go! Tell the Pirate Troopers and Commandos that they're up! Jump!"

After the command was issued, the Space Pirate Frigate _Chimera_ accelerated as it jumped to warp, and vanished from the debris field that was once Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

The _Chimera_ jumped out of warp an hour later and reappeared ten kilometers away from the troopship _G.F.S. Loki_. P'Fash looked out the bridge window of his frigate and saw the breaching pods and boarding transports leaving the troopship, heading towards the station off in the distance. P'Fash also noticed that the massive troopship sitting in his ship's direct line of fire. He looked over to his weapons officer and a report from the officer soon came forth, "Sir, I read that the Federation ship's shields are down and its weapons unpowered!"

"All forward batteries open fire!" P'Fash shouted at the top of his lungs. "Disable that ship at all costs. Target its weapons, shields, and warp drive! We can't risk letting it raise its shields, charge its weapons, or escape!"

The _Chimera_ caught the _Loki_ with its pants down as it opened fire with all of its forward batteries almost immediately upon exiting warp. Blue pulses of energy lanced out from the weapons batteries of the _Chimera_ and streaked across space, finding their marks on the hull of the troopship _Loki_ at nearly the speed of light. Armor plates of the _Loki_ melted and vaporized under the weight of fire unleashed upon it by the _Chimera_. The melted pieces of hull congealed in space and formed globules of gray as they floated away from the stricken ship. The rear weapons batteries were the first to be annihilated under the massive weight of the frigate's fire. Next, the shield generators were destroyed. Small bulges on the hull were instantly destroyed as the generators were pounded by massive pulses of bluish-white plasma. After that, the warp drive was targeted. Lances of blue plasma lashed out at the troopship's warp engines and gouged massive holes into the engine walls of the ship. The warp engines automatically cut off in order to prevent the energy from bleeding into the rest of the ship and destroying it. In addition, a line of explosions soon erupted from the middle of the ship's hull as a plasma conduit ruptured. Equipment, crewmembers, and troops onboard the _Loki_ were ejected into space as the hull ruptured near inhabited areas of the ship. P'Fash nearly grimaced as he saw the equipment float out into space. He had few transports of his own to retrieve any of the lost equipment and as such, he had wanted to keep as much of the equipment onboard the _Loki_ intact as possible.

On the bridge of the _Loki_, sparks erupted from consoles on both the bridge. The occupants of the consoles screamed as sparks erupted from various consoles, killing or injuring the unfortunate crewmembers manning them.

"Casualties!" Captain Bridges bellowed as he witnessed the crewmembers unfortunate deaths as the hands of the sparking consoles.

"We have casualties coming in from all over the place," a female Fleet Trooper replied. "We have damage to our engines, shields, and weapons. I don't know how long we can…ahhh," she cried as sparks erupted from the officer's console as the ship lurched from another weapons strike and Captain Bridges glance back and saw the female Fleet Trooper lying on the floor, horrifying burns covering her face and hands.

Captain Bridges rose from his chair ran to the internal sensor station to see the extent of the damage done to his ship. Sparks had erupted from the console and killed its occupant moments earlier and thus, the bridge was down a man. He looked at the readout and growled. It did not look good. The console read, _Warp drive offline. Shields down. Rear batteries destroyed._

"Damn," Captain Bridges swore. They were sitting ducks. At least he had maneuvering thrusters so he could turn and fight, but he knew that with the kind of damage his ship had already suffered, his chances of victory were slim. He turned to his communications officer and commanded, "Send out a distress signal! We need reinforcements! Get the transports back here now! We need some cover from that Space Pirate ship!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Helm, come about and get our bow to that Pirate frigate. Weapons, target their own weapons systems and fire everything we've got! We have to disable their weapons systems!"

The _Loki_ then came about and went to face the bow of the _Chimera_, but it was too slow since one of its maneuvering thrusters had been destroyed in the _Chimera's_ initial barrage. The _Chimera_ was able to maneuver out of its firing arc and soon unleashed the finishing blow on the _Loki_. A ball of lightning erupted from the forward prow of the ship and streaked towards the _Loki_. The _Loki_ was in no condition to attempt to evade the lightning ball, and did not even try. The ball promptly struck the _Loki_ and electricity arced across the ship. Just then, the lights began to flicker on the ship and after a few seconds, simply shut down. The sublight engines went dark and the entire ship seemed to have been drained of its life.

On the bridge of the _Loki_, Captain Bridges flung himself away from the console he was occupying as lightning erupted from the console. Several other officers on the bridge were less fortunate, being electrocuted as the systems of the ship shorted out and the ship went dark, their cries echoing through the bridge. "Report!" Bridges cried over the din of explosions and other cries.

An officer soon reported in, saying, "I can't make contact with any other sectors of the ship. We've gone completely dark."

"Do we still have life support?"

"Barely, sir," came the response. "But other than that, don't ask for much. We're dead in space with no way to call for help."

Captain Bridges swore. He knew that there was little that he could do now. His ship was now completely defenseless against the Space Pirate frigate. Despite his ship's advantage in size, the fact was that most of the troops had been placed onboard the transports and boarding pods that were being launched against _Research Facility 777_ meant that his ship was unlikely to be able to repel enemy boarders unless the transports and boarding pods managed to return to the ship in time. Just then, he watched as one of the boarding pods exploded in the middle of space. Then, a second one exploded, then a third. He then saw several flashes of blue light flashed near a fourth pod before one of them vaporized another pod. Then, suddenly, a torrent of blue plasma fire lashed out at the remaining boarding pods and transports. "Crap," Bridges swore, "they're picking off the boarding pods and transports. Are they going after the station too?"

He did not know whether or not the Space Pirates were interested in the station, but he knew that his ship was helpless against the frigate, and that it was not destroyed. That meant that at the very least, the _Loki_ was a target for the Space Pirates. Just then, the lights came on once more. The consoles also lit up.

"Auxiliary power has been restored, sir," the tactical officer called out to the Captain. "But communications is still down."

Captain Bridges swore again. That might not have been so bad, but given the damage the ship had suffered in the initial attack, there was little that they could do to defend themselves, and without being able to call for help, unless a miracle happened, they would be eventually be destroyed, or worse. He then went over to the unoccupied sensor console, stepping over the body of a fallen officer, and checked the sensor screens. The screen depicted the Space Pirate frigate making its approach to the crippled troopship. Blue energy pulses still erupted from its guns, targeting the few remaining boarding pods that were making their way to the station. However, the Pirate frigate had ceased firing on the crippled _Loki_. Now he knew what their plan was. They were going to board the troopship and hope to take it over. And with most of the troops having been slaughtered when the boarding pods and transports had been destroyed by the frigate en route to the station, they would likely be able to take over the ship and possibly repair it enough for them to jump the ship out of the system. He could not allow that. He soon went over the internal ship comm., which had just been restored, and activated it. He then spoke into the speaker, saying, "All personnel, we are about to be boarded by Space Pirate invaders. You must hold out against the Space Pirates no matter the cost." With that, he deactivated the comm. He then went back to his chair and went over to the keypad and typed in a series of commands into the pad. He wanted to ensure that all command codes were transferred to his station and that the Space Pirates would not be able to hack them. After a few seconds, he had managed to secure the main computer and waited. He hated having to wait, but he knew that there was no choice. He had to wait, for only _he_ could activate the autodestruct sequence and have it be on a silent countdown. He knew that the surviving crewmembers would be defenseless against the Space Pirate Troopers, and that even the few Army Troopers still onboard would not be nearly enough to stop the Space Pirate boarding party. He knew that the end would come soon.

Back on Z-1A, the Space Pirates that had crashed their transport back onto the planet were setting up defenses around their transport in order to ward the imminent attack by the Galactic Federation. While the Pirates knew that there was no realistic way that they would manage to defeat the attacking Federation forces, they also did not want to go down without a fight. After all, they had a great deal of information on them…information that if it fell into the wrong hands, would set back their operations and plans even more than the destruction of their base on Zebes had. Onboard the crashed transport, a Pirate Commando, the highest-ranking Pirate on the ship, was ordering the troops to set up barricades and set up chokepoints where they could cause the Federation forces to bottleneck so that they could inflict severe losses on the Federation forces.

"Come on you swine!" he bellowed. "Set up those crates. We may not be able to beat back the attacks forever, but we can inflict heinous losses on them in the fighting!"

Just then, an explosion rocked the ship and the door that was the entrance to the ship was reduced to shrapnel, which was propelled inside of the small ship, knocking down one of the Militia and piercing him in the process. An armored figure strolled into the ship and promptly shot a Charged Beam blast at the fallen and dying Militiaman, annihilating the Pirate. The Pirate Commando swore at the sight, for he was facing off against none other than Samus Aran, the Hunter.

"Take her out! Kill her!" he cried frantically, but as he was screaming his orders, Samus had fired two missiles at the surviving Pirates, killing two Pirate Troopers. The rest of the Pirates quickly hid behind the crates, but Samus was not concerned. She targeted the crates and fired Charged Shots to destroy the crates and reveal the Pirates. She then targeted the other Pirates and switched to her Wave Beam and fired on them. The uncharged shots struck the Pirates and merely a few shots were sufficient to stun each Pirate and short out his armor. The rest of the Pirates still fired on Samus, but Samus managed to avoid their fire by ducking behind some gray metal crates. Samus emerged to fire on the Pirate Troopers, stunning and even paralyzing her enemies, wanting to make sure that a few were kept alive so that they could be interrogated by Admiral Dane and the Galactic Federation. She noticed the Commando in the rear, firing his EMP grenade and she rushed to the rear of the transport to escape its blast radius. It was then that Kreatz, Mauk, and Adam appeared to assist her. She did not need their help to finish off these Pirates, but she did not mind their appearance either. They could take down the rest of the Pirates while she dealt with the Commando.

Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk quickly opened fire on the remaining Pirate Troopers using their freeze guns, knowing that the freezing effect might not be fatal for the armored Pirates, but would disable them so that their threat would be neutralized. Five Pirates were quickly frozen in rapid succession while Samus went to engage the Pirate Commando in a quick battle. It was quick, for Samus wasted no time charging her Wave Beam. She fired the three charged projectiles and they streaked towards the Pirate Commando, who was busy targeting Samus with his EMP grenade launcher and energy projector. Before the Pirate could fire, though, the Charged Wave Beam blast struck the Pirate and disabled his suit and its weaponry. Samus fired another blast from her Wave Beam just to make sure that he would not get up anytime soon.

After the battle, Samus checked out the cargo compartments to see what the Pirates had stolen from the colony and the Chozo dig. When Samus opened the compartments, her eyes went wide at what the Pirates had obtained, for inside the compartments, she found the Plasma Beam, the Space Jump and Screw Attack upgrade, the Speed Booster, and the Power Bomb upgrades. This technology would have been incredibly useful to the Pirates if they had managed to leave the planet with it. Samus began to wonder, and worry about, what technology the Pirates may have managed to make off with in their raid, for she knew that at the very least, Ridley, his Heavy Assault Transport, and its escorts had managed to escape the planet. She did not know that the escorts had been destroyed during the Galactic Federation's arrival and that Ridley's ship was one of the only transports to escape. She knelt down and integrated the upgrades into her suit.

Once the upgrades had been integrated into her suit, she went over to the stunned Pirate Commando, who was beginning to awaken and tore off his EMP grenade launcher. She then ripped his helmet off and grinned, though her own helmet hid her grin. She leaned over the Pirate and asked in a cold voice, "Where is Ridley?"

"I don't know," the Commando responded. That only got the Pirate a punch to the gut with Samus's arm cannon, which was already charging to unleash a Charged Shot.

"Wrong answer," Samus seethed. "I'm going to ask you again. Where's Ridley? Where did his ship jump to?" The plasma from Samus's Charged Plasma Beam was beginning to burn its way through the Pirate Commando's armor.

"I don't know, honest!" the Pirate cried frantically. "We broke away from Ridley in order to draw the Federation fighters away from his ship! The frigate jumped away before Ridley's ship could be taken onboard! This ship can't track Ridley's transport, only the frigate!"

"That's not good enough!" Samus cried as she leveled her cannon at his face and was about to fire her Charged Plasma Beam at the Pirate Commando and annihilate him.

"Wait!" came Adam's cry. "Don't kill him!"

"Why not?" Samus asked in a dark tone, glaring back at Adam.

"Because he can lead us to the Space Pirate frigate, which may be able to track Ridley's ship," Adam responded sagely.

Samus's expression toward Adam softened. She then turned back to the Pirate Commando, her helmet hiding her menacing grin. "Adam just saved your life…for the moment. Now, you're going to tell us how to track your mothership."

"No," came the Pirate's condescending reply. Samus merely grinned and charged her Plasma Beam once again. Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk also approached, pointing their weapons at the Pirate Commando. Samus then punched him in the gut with her left fist, and then touched her arm cannon to the Pirate's cheeks, letting the plasma burn them.

Seeing that Samus's beam was fully charged and that she was pointing it at his head, and that Adam and the other two Federation soldiers were doing nothing to stop her, the Pirate decided that his survival was more important than his loyalty to the frigate crew. After all, he knew that the frigate could not track Ridley's transport. And in a way, he wanted Commander P'Fash to pay for abandoning them, and Ridley, to the Galactic Federation. This would be his revenge.

"Yes," the Pirate Commando eventually said, acquiescing to Samus's wishes. "Hunter, on the command console are the controls for the long-range sensors. These sensors can track this transport's mothership," the Commando explained. "It was designed so that we could make our way back to a mothership should we suffer damage and send a direct encrypted signal to it. Normally we'd wipe the data from our computers, but your attack took us off guard. Besides, I want some revenge against P'Fash for leaving us here to die." He made certain _not_ to mention Ridley's name in who he wanted revenge for, since he knew about Samus's past with his leader.

Samus and the others then went to the console and brought up the long-range sensors. Immediately a small map of the galaxy appeared on a small holographic display. The image then went forward, as if it were a ship flying into the galaxy. Samus immediately activated her Scan Visor so she could download the data to her logbook and then transfer it to her ship's computer. The display then showed the location of Z-1A, located near the edge of the galaxy. It then shifted to a few stars closer to the edge of the galaxy and showed the location of not only the Space Pirate frigate, but also showed several other blips as well. Some of the smaller blips disappeared. Adam took a look at the display and his eyes flashed in recognition.

"I recognize that spatial region," he blurted.

"What is it?" Kreatz asked.

"That's the location of _Research Facility Seven-Seven-Seven_," the general responded. "It is a facility where the Federation does research on various lifeforms. It was commissioned by Chairman Elric two years ago, just after his inauguration as Chairman, which came not long after the Phazon Crisis, after former Chairman Keaton was assassinated. It is considered to be quite controversial and more than a few elements inside the Federation on several planets have tried to have it shut down." He took a closer look at the facility and noticed that there was activity near the station besides just the frigate and another vessel. "There's activity going on onboard the station," he observed. "There's no way the frigate would have stopped to engage another ship there, especially given the damage that the frigate sustained, unless there was something that they wanted on the station." He turned to Samus and told her, "Samus, we have to get to that frigate. I have a bad feeling about all of this."

"I'm on it," Samus responded as she left the console and went to leave the ship so she could call her own gunship.

It was then that the rest of the Galactic Federation Marines arrived onboard the ship. They saw Samus leaving and parted so that she could leave. They then went boarded the ship and found Kreatz and Mauk subduing the Space Pirate captives. Mauk looked up and when he saw the Marines, he shouted, "Clear!"

The Marine commander, a Major, responded by sarcastically saying, "Obviously."

Behind the Marines, Admiral Dane came walking onto the remnants of the ship. He looked around as the Marines assisted Kreatz and Mauk in capturing the Pirates and their leader, herding them off the ship, but not before stripping the Pirates of their armor and weapons. Admiral Dane approached Kreatz, Mauk, as well as Samus and Adam, who were coming down to meet him. "Status," he asked. "What did you find?"

"We found the location of the Space Pirate frigate," Adam answered. "It is near _Research Facility Seven-Seven-Seven_. We fear that the Space Pirates may be trying to take the station."

"Then we must stop them," Admiral Dane told him.

"I can get us to the station," Samus interjected. "If the frigate has suffered damage, my ship may be able to finish it off."

Admiral Dane looked over at Samus and said, "I thank you for your courage and willingness to take on this mission, Samus, but I would rather take the _Olympus_ to the station and take on the frigate rather than hope that a single gunship can exploit a weakness in the frigate's hull due to previous damage."

"But my ship can reach it faster than the _Olympus_ can," she insisted. "Trust me. I can do this. I'll also clear out any Space Pirate forces on the station. Besides, with all due respect, sir, your ship is needed here. Without the _Olympus_, Z-1A is defenseless should another force come and launch an attack on it."

Admiral Dane considered what Samus was saying but was still skeptical. It was then that Adam Malkovich told him, "She's right, Admiral, on both counts. Her ship is fitted with anti-capital ship missiles. If the frigate has suffered as much damage as I think it has, her gunship can take it down quickly if she manages to launch a surprise attack. And this colony is defenseless without a ship standing by in orbit to intercept any attackers. The Space Pirates showed that. And with the Chozo technology found here, this colony could hold a great deal of important technological finds that the Pirates might not have found during their taking of the colony."

Eventually, Admiral Dane was convinced and said, "Fine. You can go, Samus. Just make sure you come back alive."

"She will, Admiral," Kreatz told him, immediately volunteering himself for the mission, alongside Samus and Adam. It was not long before Mauk also volunteered for the mission as well. Samus smiled as her friends volunteered to join her for this mission. She could not help but think that there was going to be more to this mission than she originally thought. She was suddenly glad that she had all of her weapons and the Speed Booster, Space Jump, and Screw Attack. The group then made its way off the ship.

Once off the downed transport, Samus activated her Command Visor and summoned her gunship. A few seconds later, her gunship appeared and descended from the sky and landed next to the group. Once it had touched down, Samus boarded the ship, followed by Adam Malkovich, Kreatz, and Mauk. Once they were onboard, the hatch closed and the ship immediately took off into the air. Once it was a hundred feet into he air, its nose pointed straight up and rocketed into the sky. It was not long before the ship had managed to reach outer space. Once the ship had reached space, Samus activated the warp drive and her ship jumped the warp.

Onboard the frigate, _Chimera_, MB waited as the frigate approached the Federation troopship. She could already sense her new army onboard _Research Station 777_ and was eagerly anticipating taking the frigate to the station for repairs once the Pirates had taken over the Federation troopship. She knew that the Pirates would not miss this beat up old clunker that by all rights was stranded here. Heck, even if they knew that she was onboard, chances were that they would love her plan and help her execute it. The problem was Ridley. While he hated the Galactic Federation, she knew that there was no way that Ridley would join in on her plan. He had had too many bad experiences with Mother Brain in the past to be able to trust anyone, or anything, associated with her. In addition, she knew that these Pirates were terrified of Ridley, and without a Mother Brain form plus cybernetic humanoid body, she did not have the power to take on Ridley in a direct battle. Granted, he likely did not have the power to destroy her either, but he could collapse her body into its component nanites fairly quickly. And if he did somehow manage to find a way to inflict real damage on her, then she would be in trouble. In fact, the only reason Mother Brain had been as powerful as she was was because her body was being fed power from the core of the planet Zebes. While she was still powerful in close combat, she would need powerful weaponry in order to become a true threat to Ridley and to the Federation all by herself.

She watched her console screen and checked the status of her ship. The ship had two fighters and a single transport ready to go. Her eyes flashed at the sight of the transport, which was warp capable. This was perfect. Heck, she would not need the frigate at all. She could use the transport's own warp drive as a basis for building a warp drive onboard the research facility. It would be even better if it were an instantaneous movement drive like those used by some of the Precursor Races. She quickly took another look and saw the frigate closing in on the Federation troopship. The frigate was siding up alongside the Federation ship and she knew that she had to act fast. The Pirates would overrun the Federation ship quickly and the Captain of the Federation ship, if he knew his duty, would deny the Pirates the ship and their lives by setting the autodestruct of the troopship, which would also take out the frigate in the process since the frigate was currently unshielded. She ran from the console and made her way towards the fighter bay. She did not have a lot of time, plus, the Pirates would not miss the fighter. She merely needed to assimilate the schematics of the Pirate Transport, and its warp drive, into her memory banks. Once that was done, she could infiltrate the station, take over its Aurora Unit by downloading herself into it, and then use the station to get her revenge on the Galactic Federation.

Onboard _Research Facility 777_, Commander General Leroy Cutter and his psychic assistant, Clarice, made their way to the emergency hangar bay. Cutter knew that Platoon 07 and Samus Aran were hot on their tail, but that the bioweapons would slow their progress significantly. Since Clarice was with him, though, he did not have to worry about falling under attack from the various bioweapons, for her telepathic abilities could direct them away or cause the bioweapons to see them as allies. He merely marched forward at a brisk pace, with Clarice struggling to keep up. All around him, various bioweapons from Ghalmanians to Kyratians, to Gigafraugs parted before him, as if they were making way for their king. Once he was past, they resumed their normal activities, mainly getting in the way of Platoon 07 and Samus. He had a feeling that the platoon and Samus would be able to take them down without too much difficulty.

It did not take him long to reach the emergency hangar bay. Upon reaching the doors that led to he bay, he slowed his pace and allowed Clarice to catch up. He still needed her power in order to ensure that he would reach his escape craft unharmed. Before entering the bay, he looked back at the young woman and asked, "Clarice, what is happening outside?"

Clarice closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them before answering, "There is a damaged Space Pirate frigate outside the station. The Pirates managed to disable the _G.F.S. Loki_ and are proceeding to board the starship. Our way should be clear."

"You mean, _my_ way, right?" General Cutter asked suspiciously.

Clarice did not know what he meant, so she turned and asked, "What's that supposed to mean?" She quickly found out when pain shot through her brain as a quarter inch sized hole was burned into her chest. Her eyes went wide as she looked down to see the hole that had been burned into her chest. She gasped for air, having one of her lungs punctured and her heart damaged by the energy blast. She soon collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air, struggling to relieve herself of the pain when she looked up at General Cutter, holding a smoking energy pistol in his hand.

"Didn't see that coming, did you?" he asked sarcastically as he shot her once more in the head. He then turned and entered the emergency hangar bay so he could get to his Arwing and escape this station. It did not matter what the Galactic Federation found now. He knew that Chairman Elric had sold them all out when the projects on the _Bottle Ship_ were exposed. Now, he had to escape once more and go into hiding until this all blew over, or Elric was exposed and impeached by the rest of the Council. If Elric were exposed, then he would be happy to testify before the Council to get his revenge on Elric for selling him out.

In another part of the station, General Mansfield and his troops led the "prisoners" from the Control Bridge back to the _Hermes_. They were walking down a corridor when they came upon the remains of Platoons 05 and 06. The bodies of the troopers looked like they had been eaten alive, with a number of them having been reduced to rags. They then heard a series of roars from up ahead, as well as a human scream. Suddenly, the human scream went silent, as did the roars. Mansfield knew that bioweapons were coming, and told everyone, "Get ready, men. We've got a lot of bioweapons headed our way."

"Do you want us to try to avoid killing them?" one of the troopers asked, knowing that their mission relied heavily upon the bioweapons taking out the Federation Council and Elric for them to gain power.

"Hell no!" Mansfield replied. "You can't stop these things without killing them. It's kill or be killed, soldier!"

"Yes, sir," the soldier replied sheepishly as he turned back ahead and waited for whatever approached. Soon, the enemy force appeared from around the corner. This force consisted of a large number of powerful bioweapons, most notably Rhedogians and Kyratians. Chamolos gasped at the sight and stammered, "What the…Those aren't supposed to be here! They're supposed to be confined to Sectors One, Two, and Three!"

"Yeah, well they're here now!" one of the troopers responded before aiming at one of the Rhedogians and firing on it. The bullets bounced off of the skin of the Rhedogian and the creature powered up its laser attack in response. General Mansfield, knowing that it was a hopeless battle, cried into his radio, "All members of Platoon 07, Samus, fall back to the _Hermes_ at once! We're under attack by bioweapons and we need help now!"

Anthony's response soon crackled in, "We hear you General and we're on our way."

"I copy and am on my way," Samus echoed.

"Get here soon," the General yelled, "or there won't be anyone to save!" As General Mansfield uttered those last words, the Rhedogian unleashed has laser attack upon the soldiers and General Mansfield. Mansfield, Chamolos, and a number of troops were vaporized as the laser swept over them. The Rhedogian then swept its arms towards the other troops and knocked them back to the ground and to the bulkhead of the station. It subsequently unleashed a volley of missiles at the surviving troops, who were wise enough to start to use their Freeze Guns on the creature. Unfortunately, that did little to save them from the Rhedogian's missiles, which detonated among their ranks and killed most of the remaining troops in an instant. With no troops left to defend them, Drayka and Eiden fled back the way they came, hoping to find somewhere where they could hide before trying to get back to the _Hermes_. It was not to be, for the bioweapons quickly overtook them and proceeded to devour them, amid the screams of pain and anguish unleashed by Drayka and Eiden as they died.

Onboard the _G.F.S. Loki_, the few remaining Galactic Federation Army Troopers were standing near a chokepoint that they had set up on Deck Five, close to a Space Pirate boarding ramp that was being extended from the _Chimera_ and cutting its way through the hull, waiting for the inevitable to happen. They knew that the Space Pirates had attached their boarding ramps to the ship and were cutting their way through the hull. It would only be a matter of time before the Pirates arrived at their position and engaged them in battle. They had ordered the evacuation the area of all non-trooper personnel, but they knew that there were still some Fleet Troopers still at their posts in the quarantined areas. After a few seconds, they heard an explosion off in the distance. They had come. The sounds of energy fire echoed through the corridor as the Pirates boarded the ship. A few human screams were heard as crewmen were mercilessly cut down by the boarding Space Pirates. Then, the screams and whines of energy fire suddenly ceased. After that, only the sounds of footfalls echoed throughout the corridor. And by the sound of things, they were getting closer, which caused the Army Troopers to be on edge and ready to engage anything that peered its head around the corner. After a few moments, one of the Pirates, a Militiaman, appeared in the corridor close to the chokepoint. The Army Troopers immediately opened fire on the Pirate and shot him down, his carcass falling backwards, riddled with bullet holes as it hit the floor. Soon, there was a roar of rage and then, another Pirate Militia member came around the corner; and he, too, met his friend's fate before getting a shot off. However, soon Space Pirate Troopers were beginning to appear, and these troopers were much more heavily armored and shielded than their Militia brethren. The Federation Army Troopers unloaded their weapons into the Pirate Troopers, but the Pirates were too heavily armored and the bullets bounced off of their shields for the most part. Only one Pirate was felled, and that one by a plasma grenade tossed at him by one of the smarter Army Troopers. It did little good for the Trooper, or the rest of his squad as almost all of the Army Troopers at the chokepoint were ruthlessly cut down by the endless stream of blue energy fire unleashed against them by the Pirates as they flooded into the corridor. The few surviving troopers quickly fled back down the corridor, only for two of them to be shot in the back as they ran. The Pirates then gave chase of the Army Troopers as more and more Pirates flooded onto the ship in order to secure and take it over.

Commander P'Fash regally boarded the ship from a boarding ramp and looked over at the two Pirate Troopers that had secured the area. He looked down at the slain human crewmen that were at his feet and bellowed, "Come, let us inspect our new starship!" With that, Commander P'Fash marched forward, stepping on the as many crewmen as he could in the process, hoping that there would be some wounded survivors that he could finish off himself.

On the bridge of the _Loki_, Captain Bridges watched from the security console as his ship was rapidly being overrun by the Space Pirates. The markers indicating the remaining crewmen and Army Troopers were quickly going blank. They were falling like snowflakes during a blizzard. He quickly checked the sensors and found that the Space Pirate frigate was firmly attached to the starship and that most of the Space Pirate crew had already boarded his ship. Good, this meant that the Pirates would not be able to get off the ship and detach their ship from the _Loki_, even of they had managed to detect the self-destruct protocols being activated.

Bridges went over to his chair and typed a few commands in on the keypad in order to activate the autodestruct sequence. The screen soon read, _Two officers needed to activate autodestruct sequence_. Captain Bridges smiled. He was a fairly skilled hacker, and with his command codes, he could overcome any security measures put in place on the troopship. He would not let the Space Pirates get this ship and its equipment. He quickly typed in a new series of commands and the screen's message said, _Awaiting final command code for two-minute silent countdown_. Captain Bridges typed the code into the computer and pressed _Enter_. Now, all he could do was wait and make peace with God, for in two minutes, he would be dead. After all, he designed the command codes on his ship so that his autodestruct sequence could not be overridden at all: not even by _him_.

Meanwhile, Samus Aran's gunship hurtled through subspace at breakneck speeds. She had wanted to get to the Space Pirate frigate as quickly as possible so that she could try to track down Ridley's transport before the trail went cold. During the hour or so Samus's ship had been traveling through subspace, she took the time to read some of her logbook entries that she had downloaded on the planet Z-1A. She was astounded to find that the planet was the sight of the first battle between the Chozo and a race known as the Magic Lords, or Dragon Lords as some had taken to calling them. The Chozo had been forced to retreat, the power of the enemy was so great, but they soon fought a subsequent battle on the planet with help from the Luminoth, N'Kren, and Ylla. With the help of the other three races, they had defeated the Dragon Lords and reclaimed the planet. After the initial encounters, the Dragon Lords had waged a full-scale war against the Chozo Alliance in a war known as the Magic War, which ultimately led to a Chozo Alliance victory, and the near extermination of the Dragon Lords. She also read about how the Chozo and the other races in the alliance had met and what technologies they each contained that was unique to each individual culture. It was interesting to say the least and made certain that she would take more time to read it when she had more free time. Right now, though, she had to focus on finding Ridley's transport and finally ridding the galaxy of the evil space dragon once and for all.

Once Samus was finished reading the entries on the Magic War, she quickly checked her sensors and the countdown clock to see how close they were to the Space Pirate frigate. She checked her displays and saw that the frigate had not moved. She also read that her ship would arrive in a few minutes. She looked back at Kreatz, Mauk, and Adam and saw that they were checking their weapons energy levels, in addition to their armor for damage. She then returned her focus to the countdown timer and saw that she would be two minutes away from her destination. She looked back once more and called, "We're about two minutes away from the frigate, everyone. Get ready." The others became more alert and readied themselves for whatever was about to come as the seconds on the timer ticked away.

Back on the _Chimera_, MB assimilated the blueprints of the frigate's warp drive and the instructions on how to cobble one together on a station and jump it to Daiban, just over Galactic Federation Headquarters. If everything had gone according to plan, she would land the station right on top of Galactic Federation Headquarters. MB knew that the chances of success were slim, but that did not stop her from trying. If anything, it would give the Federation something to think about. Once she was finished with the data download, she rushed down to the hangar bay in order to get a hold of a starfighter or transport so that she could escape this doomed frigate. She could feel that enough time had passed that the Galactic Federation starship was about to be overrun, and likely destroyed by its captain. "Time to go," she said jovially as she arrived at the hangar bay and entered.

Inside the bay, there were still some transports left that could take her off this ship, and to the station. She ran to the first transport in the line and boarded it. The transport was small, only about twelve to fifteen meters in length. It was not a good combat vessel, but it could hold more than thirty Space Pirates, which could really make a difference in a ground battle. She quickly entered the cockpit and started the ship. She then closed the cockpit and the lights flashed on, signifying a sparsely furnished ship with a gray interior, and the engines fired. After a few seconds, the ship proceeded to lift off from the floor and she turned her transport and flew out the open hangar bay doors speeding away from the Space Pirate ship before the Federation ship self-destructed, and tore apart the _Chimera_ in the process.

Onboard _Research Facility 777_, General Cutter performed a final check on the systems of his Arwing fighter. So far, everything was in order. It was equipped with three Nova Bombs, powerful explosives designed for use against capital ships, but could also be used against fighters and transports in a pinch as well, and a single laser cannon. Once he saw that everything was ready to go, he powered up the fighter and proceeded to lift off. Once he was off the floor of the station, he hovered and turned to face the hangar bay doors. He then flicked up a red cover on the firing button and proceeded to unleash a series of green laser blasts against the hangar bay doors. The blasts burned through the doors and blew them out into space. Debris from the bay rushed out into space as the hangar bay decompressed. Cutter let the rush of air push his fighter into space, where he powered up his engines and thrusters, and proceeded to flee the station. The others could fend for themselves.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the _Loki_, Captain Bridges waited silently as he counted down in his head the seconds before his ship exploded. He could hear the sounds of fighting outside the bridge doors. The whine of energy blasters and the rattle of gunfire echoed behind the doors, but he knew that it would make no difference in the grand scheme of things. Soon, the gunfire went silent and he knew that the last of the crew had been killed. Still, it did not matter to him, for in five, four, three, two…and then the end came, a second sooner than he had anticipated.

Samus Aran's gunship emerged from warp a few thousand kilometers away from the Space Pirate frigate and the much larger troopship. Samus, Kreatz, Mauk, and Adam stared out the window as the recognized both the frigate, and the Federation troopship it was attached to.

"So it _was_ attacking a Federation troopship," Kreatz said, almost in disbelief. "What the heck were they thinking? A small frigate crew shouldn't be able to take over a Federation troopship with its full complement."

"Maybe they don't have their full complement onboard," Mauk offered.

"Then why go after the ship in the first place?" Kreatz asked.

Samus soon heard the impact of debris. She glanced around outside her window and saw pieces of metal zooming past her cockpit. They appeared to have once been a transport or a boarding pod of some sort. This did not escape Adam's notice, either. "The troopship had deployed its troops before the frigate arrived," Adam concluded. "Without its troops, a troopship is quite easy to capture."

Samus then checked her instruments and saw that there was a power buildup in the core of the Federation troopship. The sensors indicated that this buildup of power was abnormal. Samus quickly realized that the core was going critical. She immediately took the controls and made a sharp bank to the right, which prompted a, "Hey, what are you doing?" from Kreatz.

Samus did not answer as she continued to accelerate as far away from the Space Pirate frigate as possible. "Hey, the frigate's that way!" Kreatz told her, pointing towards the back of her gunship. As she sped away from the frigate, she noticed a ship emerging from one of the hangar bays of the frigate. It sped away from the Pirate frigate, just as she was doing, as the Federation troopship exploded in a dazzling display of light and fire. Metal was flung from the epicenter of the explosion and tore into the Space Pirate frigate stationed right next to the troopship, piecing its metal skin and emerging from the other side of the ship. The blast wave of the explosion also pelted the frigate with debris that tore through the unshielded ship's hull and within seconds, the Space Pirate Frigate _Chimera_ exploded as well.

Debris from both ships flew past the cockpit of Samus's ship as she angled her ship's deflector shields to the rear in order to protect her ship from the debris being flung through space by the explosion. Kreatz and Mauk's eyes went wide at the sight of the explosion. "What the…? The ship exploded!" Mauk stammered.

"But why? Why destroy the Federation ship while they were still attached?" Kreatz asked.

"They didn't destroy the ship," Adam explained. "The captain of the troopship activated the self-destruct specifically to prevent the Space Pirates from capturing the vessel and its equipment."

Samus listened to the conversation and looked downcast and a scowl crossed her face. She had figured all of what Adam was saying, of course. Despite the fact that the Pirates were denied a Federation troopship, and the rest of their lives in the process, she was still perturbed by the loss of the troopship and frigate. First of all, the Federation troopship had thousands of troops onboard. If the entire complement were lost, that would mean the loss of almost ten thousand troops. And chances were that they had died what may have been needless deaths. Second of all was the fact that with the frigate gone, there was no way to track Ridley's ship. The trail was now cold. She clenched her fists and almost growled. Ridley had escaped her, and there was no way she could track him before he launched another attack against another Federation colony.

Samus then checked her sensor displays and saw that a Space Pirate Transport had fled the frigate just before its destruction and was now heading towards the station off in the distance. Samus banked her gunship so she could follow the transport. She hoped that the transport might have some information on Ridley's whereabouts. And even if it didn't, she still wanted to get rid of any remaining Space Pirates before they could call any of their brethren in and alert them to the space station that looked ripe for the picking.

Onboard the transport, MB was focused on making her way to the research facility without being detected by anyone onboard. She was not close enough to detect the bioweapons onboard, much less control them, but she knew that they were still onboard. She checked her sensors and saw that two Galactic Federation transports had attached themselves to the hull of the station in two different parts of the station. She grimaced. That indicated a Galactic Federation presence onboard the facility. This could complicate things in the short term. Still, she was not too concerned. Their presence merely meant that she would have to be more careful, and that her plan would likely take longer to accomplish. She could still handle them. After all, she _did_ have the bioweapons onboard the station. Their defeat should not be too difficult. The only possible problem would be the off chance that Adam and his allies had returned to Samus and they had come to finish her off once and for all. Still, of all of them, only Samus likely had the tools to be a threat to her.

She then caught something on her rear sensors and out of the corner of her eye that she had not expected to see, and was hoping was not what she thought it was. She used her cybernetic vision to look behind her and found an all too familiar-looking gunship following her starship. She recognized the ship as the same ship that the soldiers who came to help Adam used to get onboard Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_. It looked like a ship that was owned by her greatest enemy: Samus Aran.

She instinctively glided her fingers across the console as she deployed the twin-linked energy cannons of the transport, which rose from the top of her transport. She had the cannons swivel back to the rear and then zeroed in on the gunship. She could detect the ship's pilot raising its own shields and beginning evasive maneuvers. She grinned. She had all of the information of Mother Brain on Samus Aran. She knew how Samus thought, and how she fought. She knew how she would maneuver her vessel in order to evade her transport's incoming fire. She followed the ship's maneuvers and opened fire, sapphire blue pulses of energy erupting from her ship's energy cannons.

Samus Aran's gunship shook from the impact of the weapons fire. Kreatz and Mauk took their stations next to Samus and behind her. Adam also did what he could to assist her in this unexpected firefight. Kreatz manned the sensor displays and Mauk handled the primary weapons. Mauk had already deployed the energy cannons and began returning fire to the hostile Pirate transport. "Shields down to eighty percent!" Kreatz cried. Another energy strike rocked the ship. "Sixty percent! Samus, you'd better do something fast. That ship has some powerful weapons."

"And strong shields, too," Mauk echoed. "I'm pumping a lot of energy fire into that ship and its shields are only down to ninety percent."

Samus then angled the shields forward, pumping as much energy into the forward shields as the capacitors could handle. Kreatz looked at her in shock and blurted, "What are you doing? What if some of the debris from the destroyed ships hits us or they hit our aft?"

"We have to shoot down that transport now," Samus retorted. "That ship has a lot of firepower for a ship its size."

"I agree," Adam said, nodding. "Someone's been modifying it greatly."

Samus then proceeded to deploy the missile launchers. She switched to the so-called air-to-ground missiles. These missiles were stronger than her anti-fighter missiles, but were still able to shoot down transports should she have the need to do so. She locked onto the transport and after the tone was steady, indicating a positive target lock, four missiles were unleashed upon the transport as the enemy ship continued to fire.

MB checked her sensors and quickly saw the four missiles heading towards her transport. She cursed as she realized that there was little that she would be able to do to avoid them. Despite being so-called air-to-surface missiles, they had the same maneuverability as any air-to-air missile and were more than powerful enough to destroy her small transport. She figured that her best bet was to abandon ship. She knew that she had the firepower to destroy Samus's ship with her guns, which she was still using to fire on the ship. She only hoped that her ship could do so before the missiles reached it and destroyed it. She soon put on a space jump pack then opened the hatch and jumped out of the ship just before Samus's missiles reached her ship and hit. Upon being hit by the missiles, MB's transport exploded into a thousand tiny metal fragments. The android floated through space towards an unknown fighter as Samus proceeded to make her way towards one of the hangar bays onboard the station. She merely smiled at the sight, for she now had control of the bioweapons onboard the station. As such, she alerted them to the presence of intruders coming onboard their station. She then returned her focus towards the unknown fighter and floated towards it, hoping that she had calculated her path correctly so as to land on the fighter. Hijacking it should be no problem for her.

Onboard his Arwing fighter, Commander General Leroy Cutter proceeded to fly away from the station. He knew that he was defeated. His hopes for taking over the Galactic Federation and usurping Chairman Elric's chair were dashed. All he could do now was flee and hope that the Federation did not search too diligently for him. With Chamolos and the others captured, they should have what they desired in terms of the information on the illegal bioweapons programs that were in development. He looked out his cockpit to see if anyone was pursuing him and noticed Samus Aran's gunship approach him and the hangar bay of the station. He saw that the ship was different from the ship she had used to search for him and stared at it for a moment. He wondered what was going on, for he knew that she was already onboard the station and had disabled the security systems of the station. Still he did not let his curiosity get the better of him. He did not want to risk engaging an enemy that could destroy him.

He proceeded to bank his fighter away from Samus's ship when he felt his fighter shudder. He soon noticed the form of a young human woman lying on his cockpit window. Cutter did not know that this was MB, the AI unit from the _Bottle Ship_, for he had never seen MB's android form before. MB drew back her left arm and her fingers joined together to a dagger-like formation. She then shoved her hand through the cockpit canopy, the canopy glass cracking and shattering at the point of impact. Her hand surged through the cockpit glass, stopping a mere foot away from his body. She then withdrew her hand, taking most of the cockpit canopy along with her hand. The air and heat rushed from the fighter as she immediately climbed into the cockpit and unstrapped Leroy Cutter from his fighter and tossed him into space to suffocate and freeze to death. She then took her seat in the cockpit and slowed the fighter, swiveling it to target the freezing body of Commander General Leroy Cutter. With a single burst of laser fire, she vaporized his body. Once the general was dealt with, she swiveled the craft once more towards the station and flew towards it.

She quickly flew around the perimeter of the station and as she did so, eyed another ship, the _G.F.S. Medusa_. She zeroed in on the ship and once she had locked onto it, she proceeded to destroy it using a Nova Bomb in order to create an opening for her fighter. The bomb flew directly towards the _Medusa_ and once it struck the ship, it exploded in a massive wave of energy. First, a blast wave emerged from the center of the bomb and once it had expanded, a second energy wave formed that appeared to be in the shape of an atom. Once the energy waves dissipated, she noticed that there was a hole twice the size of the _Medusa_ in the side of the station. She then piloted her fighter through the hole created by the explosion of the Nova Bomb and boarded the station.

Once onboard, she proceeded to land her fighter on the ruined floor of a massive hallway and then jumped out of the cockpit. Once she had jumped out of the fighter, she proceeded to draw out a bomb that she had stolen from the Space Pirate frigate and strapped it to the fighter. It pained her to have to destroy such a fighter, but she could not leave any weapons for her enemies to use against her. She then fled the scene and made her way towards the computer core of the ship as the fighter exploded.

Meanwhile, Prime Samus Aran carefully guided her ship into the small hangar bay that the unknown fighter had emerged from. The ship soon entered the bay. As she did so, her ship's sensors alerted her to the fact that the bay was depressurized. While she would be able to handle that just fine, she was not so sure about Kreatz, Mauk, or Adam. She went back to Adam and the others and told them, "The bay's depressurized, so you'll need some space suits in order to survive the trek onto the station."

"That won't be a problem," Kreatz and Mauk assured her as helmets formed around their heads. "Our suits have built in helmets and environmental systems of their own."

"How about you, Adam?" Samus asked. "Do you need a helmet? My ship has one in the rear compartment."

"Thanks, Samus," Adam replied as he went to the rear compartment to get a helmet that seemed to be designed for his armor. He made a note to ask Samus where she got such a helmet once the mission was over. He then put on the helmet and he proceeded to follow Samus, Kreatz, and Mauk off of the ship.

Just as they stepped off the hatch, a stream of plasma melted through the ceiling above them and rained down onto Samus's ship. The plasma stream quickly melted its way through the hull and Samus cried, "Everybody, run!" as she began to rush towards the exit to the hangar bay and onto the station. Samus was the first to the doors, followed closely by Kreatz, then Mauk, and finally Adam. Seeing that Adam was the last of the group to leave the small bay, she went back and pulled Adam through just as her ship was about to explode. The doors clanged shut just as Samus's gunship exploded. The quartet rushed away from the door as metallic shards of metal pierced the door, but were luckily still embedded in the door. The group hurried down the corridor as they felt the rush of air leaving through the small hole in the blast doors that protected the hangar bay. After a few corridors of running, they felt as if they were far enough away to be safe from any decompression effects. They were just about to breathe a sigh relief when Adam Malkovich's eyes went wide. Samus noticed his expression and asked, "What's wrong Adam?"

He did not respond at first. It took both Kreatz and Mauk asking him the same question before he responded, "_She's_ here," in a deathly voice.

"Who?" Samus asked, not knowing whom Adam was referring to.

"MB, a Federation android version of Mother Brain," Adam responded.

"MB?" Kreatz blurted. "But she's dead! We destroyed her on Sector Zero onboard the _Bottle Ship_!"

Mauk's eyes showed just as much shock as Kreatz's. Samus, however, had not encountered MB before and did not know the history between MB and Adam, or of Kreatz and Mauk's encounter with the android, but she knew exactly who Mother Brain was. She knew how dangerous Mother Brain could be, even if she were restricted to an android body. And Samus doubted that things would be as simple as they seemed. "We have to destroy MB…no matter the cost," Adam insisted.

"Lead the way, Adam," Samus responded. Kreatz and Mauk looked a little surprised.

"Don't take her lightly, Samus," they warned. "MB is no slouch, and if she survived Sector Zero's destruction then she is likely made out of nanites or something like that."

"Then it's a good thing I've got the Wave Beam," Samus answered, switching her arm cannon to the Wave Beam. She then proceeded to follow Adam, with Kreatz and Mauk bringing up the rear.

In the emergency hangar bay, a clone Ridley looked down at the burning wreck of Samus Aran's gunship and grumbled. He did not detect any trace of Samus or her friends. She and the others must have managed to evacuate the ship and bay before his plasma had destroyed the gunship. He jumped down into the depressurized bay and examined the wreckage, just to be sure. Two other lifeforms quickly followed him, one an Adolescent Ridley, and another, a Little Birdy, Ridley's juvenile form. Upon seeing no trace of Samus, he let loose a roar before rocketing into the air and searching the ship for more creatures to devour. Suddenly, he felt the pull of another mind trying to control his. He fought against its control and issued another roar. He would not be controlled, ever, and proceeded to fight off whatever force was trying to control him. With that determination, he proceeded to wander the ship in search of his prey.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Anthony Higgs led the rest of Platoon 07 back to the last known location of General Archie Mansfield in the hopes of being able to assist him in his battle before it was too late. Unfortunately, the bioweapons that were standing in the way were very effective in hindering the progress of his platoon, despite the fact that he had not sustained any losses to his platoon, yet. However, his men and women were the best of the best in the Galactic Federation Army, and he knew that they could handle the enemies that were arrayed against them. Anthony Higgs led the way targeting a Kyratian with his plasma cannon and firing a blue pulse of plasma at the creature. The plasma blast burned a hole into the center of the creature's chest, felling the creature with a single hit. Next to Anthony, Damara Gomez helped to cover him and clear a path through the horde of enemy soldiers, most of them consisting of Reos, Zoomers, spiked beetle-like enemies, and Zebesians.

The rest of the platoon followed them, continuing to fire on the bioweapons, felling a great number of them with volley after volley of withering energy fire. After a few moments, the firefight was over and Platoon 07 emerged unscathed. Anthony glanced back at his platoon and called, "Everyone okay?"

"Yes sir," came the responses from the rest of the platoon members. Anthony could not suppress his grin. His soldiers _were_ the best, and a match for any Marine unit the navy could field, in his mind. Once they had taken a headcount of everyone, Anthony led them down the corridor, checking his scanner as to where the general had made his last transmission. So far, they still had a ways to go before they reached General Mansfield.

As Anthony headed down the corridors leading back to the last known location of General Mansfield, he began to have a bad feeling about the fate of the general. So far, his forces had faced fewer bioweapons on the way back than he had expected given what he had heard from the general. He had a terrible feeling that he was either being led into a trap, or that the general, his soldiers, and the captives were already dead. And if that was the case, then there was no further reason to stay on the vessel.

He charged down the next corridor and saw a Rhedogian fighting against Samus Aran. Samus fired a blast from her stacked Plasma Beam at the two-headed creature and managed to freeze its heads. She then shattered them with a single missile and the creature fell over. After the fighting, he went over to Samus and said, "Hey there, Princess, fancy meetin' you here. I thought you were still in pursuit of Commander General Cutter."

"I was, but my orders changed," Samus answered. "I was called away to help protect General Mansfield and his troops."

"I was given the same order," Anthony told her.

"Then we shouldn't waste any time here," Samus told him. "Let's get to the general now." Once the conversation concluded, Samus led the way back to where they hoped General Mansfield was still fighting his way back to the _Hermes_.

Meanwhile, in another part of the station, Prime Samus led the way through the station, followed by Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk. "Okay, Adam, where's MB likely to go and what is her plan?" she asked.

"Back on the _Bottle Ship_, MB's plan was to crash the ship into Galactic Federation Headquarters and use the bioweapons onboard to take out the leaders of the Galactic Federation," Adam explained. "She created a group of android replicas while still existing as a bio-mechanical supercomputer similar to Mother Brain. Now this is only a theory on my part. The MB android that was roaming throughout the _Bottle Ship_ outside of Sector Zero was just a probe. It was shaped in the android form of MB. After you, or rather your clone, battled a clone of Ridley…"

"Hold on, Adam. My clone?" Samus blurted.

Adam gave a melancholy look at the ground. He nodded. "As far as I can tell, she was the clone, with you being the original Samus. Anyway, after your clone battled against a clone of Ridley…"

"You mean had a nervous breakdown at the sight of the clone Ridley," a voice corrected from the shadows. Adam recognized the voice all too well, as did Kreatz and Mauk. Looks of shock and horror crossed their faces, though Samus was still stoic in her expression, though the others could not see as such through her visor. The person who the voice belonged to soon stepped out and Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk pointed their weapons at MB. "Is that MB?" Samus asked. She figured it was, but she wanted to make sure.

"I sure am," MB answered. "And I guess that you're the not so pathetic original Samus I've never had the fortune of meeting in my current body." Samus then raised her arm cannon and took aim at her, but surprisingly, she did not open fire. MB merely laughed. "Don't bother. Your weapons aren't sufficient to defeat me. It won't take long for me to take over this station and build the necessary warp drive needed to make this station a starship and take it to Galactic Federation Headquarters. From there, I will destroy the Galactic Federation for what they tried to do to me," she seethed.

"What did the Federation try to do to you?" Samus asked.

"They tried to wipe out my programming after they created me to control unfreezable Metroids!" MB cried. "But I'll get the last laugh. They created the ultimate weapon, but did not eliminate its weakness entirety due to the dangers that Metroids pose. However, I have the ability to engineer Metroids to make them truly unfreezable. It's only a matter of time, now, Adam. Soon, I will have my revenge."

With that, MB ducked back into the shadows with Samus giving chase, firing several shots from her Wave Beam, but failing to hit anything. "Wait, Samus," Adam called. "We need a plan if we're going to go after her!"

"What do you mean, General?" Kreatz blurted as he rushed after Samus, who had stopped about ten meters away from them, with not trace of MB to be found. "The only plan we need is to go after her and take her out now!"

"And how do you intend to do that?" Adam retorted. "Did any of you notice that we did not shoot her once while she was giving her little soliloquy just now? Save for Samus, we didn't even level our weapons at her. And Samus didn't fire until she was already retreating. And Samus knows that she's a variant of Mother Brain, one of the Space Pirate leaders!"

"So?"

"So, I didn't fire on her when I should have," Samus answered for Adam. "There was a part of me that was asking myself why I didn't try to fire my Wave Beam or Ice Beam, but it was as if the thought never really crossed my mind to actually aim at her and fire."

"MB is telepathic," Adam explained. "She had already managed to gain some small measure of influence over me during my time on the _Bottle Ship_ and likely all of the time I spent in Sector Zero. As for Samus, she has Chozo DNA and her suit is purely Chozo technology. With all of Mother Brain's files and information, she would have easily been able to penetrate her suit's defenses and be able to strongly influence Samus's own thoughts and suit. She could play with Samus's emotions, make her act out of character, cause her to do foolish things just to prove a point, etcetera. I can only speculate as to what Samus is thinking right now, or how much she fought to even raise her arm cannon at MB and later wonder why she had not shot MB."

"But Kreatz and I should be fine, right sir?" Mauk asked. "She doesn't have any files on us, and we don't have Chozo DNA in us."

"I don't know," Adam responded, shaking his head. "Neither of you fired on her, did you? She managed to influence me subtly onboard the _Bottle Ship_, and that was without me meeting her face to face. During my mission on the ship, I was hard on Samus's clone, very hard. I was bitter, resentful, and vile towards her. I had her run through a super-heated room and did not authorize her to activate her Varia Suit because I wanted to see her go through it on her own and withstand the damage the heat inflicted on her suit. In addition, she did not activate her suit until I authorized it, after she had made that 'hell run'. I also shot her in the back before freezing an infant 'unfreezable' Metroid. I treated her horribly because of the feelings of betrayal that I felt when Samus left the Galactic Federation. It was an act that I had never even really thought about until I went onboard the _Bottle Ship_, and Samus's clone arrived. I wanted to get revenge, in a way. My actions were horrible, and highly out of character for me. If I could be so easily influenced without even having Chozo DNA, being around her for a long time, never having met her face to face, or MB not even having any files on me, then what is Samus going through right now? How long will she hold out? Is she already being influenced? Do either of you feel strange?"

Both Kreatz and Mauk shook their heads. That relieved Adam. But that did nothing to alleviate the guilt that he felt over how he had treated Clone Samus. Prime Samus took in everything that Adam was asking and began to ask herself the same questions. She knew that MB was playing with her mind, and she also knew that MB likely knew that she knew. MB, if she was, in essence, a clone of Mother Brain, was not stupid. She clenched her fist and steeled her resolve and fought to control her thoughts. She would not let MB influence her in any way, no matter what happened onboard this station. She looked over at Kreatz and Mauk, who were still talking to each other and smiling. _Good_, she thought. It seemed as if they were not being influenced by MB, yet. She also looked back at Adam, who was beating himself up over what he had done on the _Bottle Ship_. She knew that what he described were acts when he was under the influence of MB, and that he now knew that he had been under her influence, but she could tell that what he had done was still troubling him.

She then went back to Adam and asked in a soft, kind tone, "Adam, are you alright?"

He then looked up at her, his expression showing his guilt and how badly he felt about the whole _Bottle Ship_ Incident. He looked up at her and retracted his visor. He forced himself to smile and said, "Yeah. I'll be fine. Come on, let's stop MB and put this whole _Bottle Ship_ debacle behind us."

"Alright, let's go," Kreatz exclaimed as he and Mauk followed Adam as they continued on their journey throughout the station. Samus still glanced at Adam as he led the others through the station, wondering if he really was okay. She figured that Adam had been feeling so guilty about what he had done to Clone Samus due to MB's influence over him, and that she was influencing his thoughts right now, being much more subtle now. Even now, she, herself, was thinking back on all of her friends and family members that had died, wondering if had she done something different, whether or not they would still be alive. She shook off the thought and refocused her attention on finding MB and destroying her. She knew that MB would play mind games with her and that she would have to be focused when she faced her. With that, she ran forward and caught up to Adam.

Each member of the party scanned the wall for any consoles that might have any information about this facility. Adam suspected that MB would go to the core and take over the computer, so the first place they should look would be the computer core and to try to stop MB from taking it over. From there, MB would have to design a warp drive, so that would give them some time to find her and destroy her. But they did not want to waste any precious time right now. They needed to find a map that led to the computer core quickly. The sooner they managed to stop MB, the better.

Samus soon located a console along the wall of the corridor. She went over to it and activated her Scan Visor. She quickly scanned the console and a map appeared on her HUD. It showed the locations of the computer core, which was located in Main Engineering, as well as the fact that the computer core was an Aurora Unit, and of the locations of both her gunship, her missing gunship from her mission to Zebes, and the location of a medium-sized ship that was clamped to the hull of the station. She blinked at the sight of her missing gunship and wondered what it was doing here and who had managed to gain access to it. Returning her attention to the map, she saw that it also gave the locations of information terminals that would likely contain information on all of the projects that were performed both here and on the _Bottle Ship_. She also saw the fact that there was a large group of lifeforms converging on a group of human life signs that were approaching the ship clamped to the hull. A look of concern crossed her face at the sight of the likely ambush that was about to occur. She quickly downloaded the map and the information to her logbook and activated her Combat Visor once more.

Adam and the others came up from behind and saw display of the humans that were surrounded by what appeared to be some of MB's bioweapons. Samus turned and told the others, "There is a group of troops that is in trouble a level up and a few corridors down. We have to help them evacuate this station."

"How do we know that MB won't use that opportunity to try to evacuate this ship with a few of the stronger bioweapons and make a run on the Galactic Federation?" Kreatz asked.

"MB doesn't want to leave," Samus answered. "She can't take over the Galactic Federation alone, or even with a few bioweapons. If she had the power to do so, I think she would have done it already. No," Samus concluded, shaking her head, "she needs the bioweapons on this station for her plans to succeed, and not just a few of the stronger ones, either. She needs as many of them as possible for her goals to come to pass. More importantly, she needed to keep me from firing on her, which tells me that despite having her body being made of nanites, she is not invulnerable, and that, at least, I may well have the weaponry necessary to destroy her. MB can still be beaten with the weapons we have available to us. We just have to be alert and ready when we face her. She will almost certainly try to use her telepathy against us. But first, we have to help whoever is has been pinned down by the bioweapons onboard the station. They aren't far away. Let's go!"

Samus then proceeded to run down the next corridor and into a small room. The others followed her into the room, picking off a couple of Zoomers in the process that blocked their path. Upon entering the room, they noticed the corpses of several Zebesians, as well as an elevator at the other end. Samus ran towards the, ignoring the dead Zebesians and other bioweapons that littered the floor, as she boarded it. Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk then followed Samus, making note of the bodies that littered the floor as they ran after their friend. Samus held the elevator for them and they soon arrived at the elevator. Once they made it to the elevator, they took the lift up to the next level, where they quickly disembarked and proceeded through the next series of corridors with Samus leading the way.

In the computer core, the Aurora Unit, a semi-organic supercomputer that resembled a human brain, used its computing power to direct the flow of information and power throughout the station. It detected the presence of intruders onboard, but due to the security systems having been hacked, could not activate any of the basic security protocols necessary to ensure that the core would not be reached by said intruders. In addition, it no longer had any control over the bioweapons onboard the station, and as such, _they_ were now also a danger that had to be dealt with. The humans that had commanded it were also dead now, so it had no direction. All it could think of was to kill the intruders, every last one of them. That was when the door to the computer core opened and a young human woman in a white lab coat casually entered, a sweet smile on her face. The Aurora Unit had not detected the human woman and was taken by surprise when MB entered the core.

"Intruder alert," the Aurora Unit said in an androgynous voice as the woman made her way towards it.

MB quickly disappeared before the turrets throughout the room managed to target her and fire and reappeared before the Aurora. "You've gotten slow, Aurora," MB noted mockingly. "Here, let me speed you up a bit." With that, MB shoved her hand through the glass covering of the Aurora Unit and into the unit, itself, breaching its membrane.

"Shield breached!" the Aurora Unit cried frantically, trying to activate its defensive systems and remove MB's hand from its body. "Defenses…now functional," the Aurora Unit said, with a sudden change in tone, from frantic to calm.

MB withdrew her hand from the unit and its wound instantly closed. Once she had withdrawn her hand from the Aurora Unit, she commanded in a crisp, clear voice, "State your designation."

"I am MB Unit One-Point-Five."

"State your directive."

"To carry out your dream of destroying the Galactic Federation should you fall in battle," the Unit responded.

"And until then?" MB asked.

"To direct all worker bioweapon soldiers to build a faster-than-light drive for this station using your designs."

"And should someone come to this core area to destroy the station?"

"I shall terminate them," the Unit responded mechanically.

"Very good," MB said in a satisfied tone. "Additional directive. Begin production on unfreezable Metroids at once. Also, release all freeze-resistant Metroids upon the station."

"Affirmative," the Unit responded.

She gave a smile. She had done it. The Aurora Unit that was the central computer core of this station was now hers. And even should she die in battle, her dreams would not die with her, for she now had a backup copy of her programming inside the Aurora Unit. All of the pieces were falling into place. All that she needed to do now was to kill Samus Aran, both of them, and Adam Malkovich. The other soldiers with them were no real threat to her. The elf was too energetic and hot-blooded to be able to defeat her, and the simian was too slow to get an accurate bead on her before she killed him. Samus was the real threat. And even then, it was the original Samus that was the real danger. The Clone Samus was too unstable mentally to be a true threat to her. She knew that if she had faced the Clone Samus, she would emerge from that battle victorious. Without a trump card, the outcome of a battle against Prime Samus was uncertain. Fortunately, she found that very trump card next to the core. MB went over to the transparent weapons locker and shattered its glass covering. She then reach in and drew out a large pistol from the locker. She scanned the weapon and saw that it was a Chozo Disruptor pistol. She grinned. With this weapon, she would easily be able to defeat the true Samus Aran. She quickly examined the scanners and saw that Adam and the others were approaching a group of Federation soldiers that were being besieged by her bioweapons. This was perfect. She could now make plans to separate the group, as well as keep it away from Main Engineering and the computer core while the bioweapons she controlled built the warp drive and installed it into the station's systems. To do that, she would need a diversion. What better diversion than herself? It would also be the perfect chance to kill Samus before she got to close to her operations. MB then proceeded to leave the computer core and make her way back through the ship. Upon leaving, several Desbrachians formed up close to the door that led to the computer core. The Desbrachians would be difficult to overcome, but should they be slain, she still had her ultimate weapons in reserve: the unfreezable Metroids. She only hoped that they would be ready to go should Samus and/or the others come to destroy the main reactor.

Back closer to the _Hermes_ in the Main Sector of _Research Facility 777_, Anthony Higgs and the other Samus covered the platoon as it fought its way back to the ship. So far, they were acquitting themselves quite well, not having suffered a single fatality in the fighting, with only a few troopers suffering minor wounds. After clearing the way of Zebesians, the group advanced until they saw the remains of several dozen Federation Army Troopers littering the hallway. The bodies looked as if they had been reduced to rags and scraps. There were also several charred skeletons that were not human, as well as one that was. Anthony looked down at the ground as he realized that these were the remains of Platoons 05 and 06, along with General Mansfield. Not knowing that the general was a traitor, Anthony directed, "Okay men, let's get the bodies back to the _Hermes_. From there, we'll take them onboard the _Loki_ so we can take them home for a proper funeral."

It was then that one of the troopers informed him, "Sir, I am no longer receiving any transmissions from the _Loki_."

"What?"

"It's gone silent, sir." The trooper answered.

"I'm not reading anything, either, Captain," Damara confirmed.

"Damn," Anthony muttered. "The _Loki's_ been destroyed, or worse." It was not as bad as it could have been, though. The _Hermes_ was still waiting and it had a warp drive of its own so the platoon could still get back to Daiban. The problem was that the mission was, in essence, a failure, and the loss of a troopship and nearly its entire complement would not look good on their report, or for the Galactic Federation. And the Federation Council would have a lot of questions for them when they got back.

Samus looked down at the bodies and tried to feel some sympathy for the general and the captives whose lives were unceremoniously cut short. However, she could find none. Had she known General Mansfield's true intentions, she would have even cracked a smile at his demise. The sad part was the fact that so many good men and women had to pay the price with him.

After they had finished examining the bodies and determined that there was not enough of the bodies to be taken back to Federation Headquarters, Anthony then called, "Okay people, let's move out. There's nothing further for us to do here."

He and the others were about to leave when they heard an inhuman screech in front of them. The screech caused some in the platoon to shudder. They knew that whatever had made that screech it was large. A feeling of dread came upon Samus, though, for she instantly recognized the screech. _Please don't let that screech be who I think it is_, she prayed. Samus and Anthony then took point, since they were the most heavily armed of the soldiers present. Their firepower would be essential for taking out the stronger bioweapons, and they knew that this enemy would be strong. And if this were who Samus dreaded it was, their firepower would be a requirement for taking him down. Soon, the platoon heard footsteps pound on the floor in front of them. Emerging from the corner and stomping down the corridor was none other than Ridley, the enemy Samus dreaded was coming. Samus's eyes went wide with shock and fear at the sight of the massive space dragon as he stood erect, spreading his wings and roaring. He then crouched down on all fours and glared at Samus, a sadistic grin crossing his face.

"No," she said waveringly in her stunned state. There was also a hint of fear still in her voice. "It's not possible," she said absently. "You're dead! Even your clone from the _Bottle Ship_ is dead! There's no way that you can be here!"

The clone Ridley then unleashed a massive roar and opened his mouth towards Samus. Samus recoiled from the shock of Ridley's roar and was stepping away from the dragon, her arm cannon quivering. She struggled to raise her cannon to him for a few seconds. "Samus, what are you waiting for? Shoot him now!" Anthony cried. "We can't beat him without you!"

Damara watched Samus struggle to face Ridley and she called out, "What is wrong with you, Samus? You've faced him half a dozen times or so already. Why are you freezing up now?" She then shouted, "Samus, take him! Remember everything that he and the Space Pirates have done to you, to your friends. Kill him now, once and for all!"

Anthony and Damara's words got through to her and she eventually managed to raise her arm cannon at the beast and charge a stacked Plasma Beam shot. But she was too slow. Ridley unleashed his plasma breath on her and she took the full brunt of the blast. The blast struck her suit and managed to take two whole Energy Tanks and a half off of her shielding. With her shielding having already been damaged due to the fighting, her defenses were quickly being depleted. She gave a cry of shock and pain as the blast caused her to leave her feet and sail backwards. The troops parted before her so that they would not be knocked down by her sailing body. It was then that Anthony and the other heavy weapons troopers opened fire on Ridley, Anthony yelling, "Fire! We're gonna have to deal with this one ourselves!"

Immediately, Blue plasma blasts and missiles streaked towards the beast, striking him numerous times in the chest. Samus struggled to rise as she watched Anthony and the rest of Platoon 07 face off against Ridley. So far, they were holding their own, managing to avoid the swipes of his claws and the thrusts of his tail. "Wait!" Samus cried towards Anthony and the others, reaching out her hand as he helped his platoon fight off the creature, remembering what happened the last time he had faced Ridley. "Don't do it," she said weakly as she tried to rise so she could face the beast. She still could not understand why she was unable to face him. She had eventually managed to face him on the _Bottle Ship_, but that was only after Ridley had knocked Anthony off of the ledge and had seemingly killed him. She continued to struggle against her fear and dread, as well as the damage her suit had already taken, and force her body to move and face down Ridley. The only good thing now was the fact that her suit had not deactivated, which was miraculous due to the damage her suit had already taken despite its shields.

Back in the fight, Ridley swept his tail and knocked several troopers backwards, where they struck the floor and lay stunned but not dead. Anthony was thankful that they had not been more seriously hurt. He then opened fire on Ridley once more to distract Ridley from the fallen troopers, and the fallen Samus in the process, as their comrades went to help them up. He fired a blast of plasma that scored a direct hit on the clone's chest. Despite the power of the blast, Ridley was only knocked a few steps backwards, a small black mark on the place of impact the only sign that Anthony had managed to score a hit on him. He then reared back and prepared to incinerate Anthony and a large portion of the platoon with his plasma breath when a Super Missile streaked in from behind the platoon and struck Ridley in the chest, detonating and engulfing Ridley with the explosion. Ridley roared in pain and shock as the explosion knocked him down and stunned him for a few moments. Not only that, but Anthony saw a large, green burn mark over his chest where only a second before, his chest had seemed to be in pristine condition save for the slight burn that his own plasma blast had inflicted on the beast. Ridley also covered his chest with his hand, which had green blood leaking from underneath. That missile did not just knock the wind out of Ridley; it inflicted some real damage to the beast.

Anthony looked back at Samus, ready to thank her, when he realized that she was still struggling to rise due to the damage she had suffered from Ridley's attack, and possibly her own fear as well. He then saw another Super Missile erupting from the darkness behind the platoon. "Get down!" he heard Samus's voice cry as he instinctively dove to the ground back towards his platoon. The missile flew into Ridley's mouth as he stood back up and began to roar. As the missile sailed into his mouth, Ridley closed his mouth reflexively. His eyes then went wide in terror as he realized his fatal mistake. The clone of Ridley then proceeded to explode. The rest of the platoon dove to the ground so that they would not be injured by the blast wave.

Once Ridley had been dealt with, Anthony took stock of the situation. He saw Samus rise from the ground and walk unsteadily on her feet, still feeling the effects of the clone Ridley's attack. Behind Samus, another armored figure came charging towards them. "Is everyone alright?" he heard Samus's voice cry, concerned for the safety of the platoon. This voice was much different from the Samus that he and the others had been protecting from Ridley moments earlier. Instead of the scared, young, and wavering voice, this one was crisp, clear, confident, and powerful. He did not know what to make of this turn of events since Samus was standing before him, and the voice came from behind her. The new armored figure soon stopped as it reached the platoon and the rest of the platoon instinctively raised their weapons at the newcomer, since the newcomer was wearing identical armor to the Samus they had just been fighting alongside. "Wait!" Anthony called, as he realized that if this warrior wanted to kill them, he or she had demonstrated his or her ability to do so just by how quickly the he or she had dealt with Ridley, and not wanting his soldiers to be fired upon due to a misunderstanding.

Prime Samus, in turn, raised her own arm cannon, switching it to the Wave Beam, waving it at the troopers, not wanting to be shot, but ready to defend herself should they start shooting. With the Wave Beam, she would at least be able to stun them if she hit them with single uncharged shots. Hearing Anthony's cry, and the fact that the troopers were lowering their weapons as a unit, she then slowly lowered her own arm cannon and raised her left hand and stretched it outward. Still, that did little to ease their concern. Their Samus soon stepped out, targeting Prime Samus with her arm cannon, asking, "Who are you? What are you doing in Chozo battle armor?"

Prime Samus was struck by the familiarity of the voice that asked the question, for she recognized her own voice coming from the other soldier. "I am Samus Aran," she answered. "Who are you?"

"No you're not!" the other Samus answered harshly. "Because _I'm_ Samus Aran." The other Samus then removed her helmet, a safe thing to do since even without her helmet, her suit's shields were still up and would still protect her head. Prime Samus's gaze met hers and her mouth went agape. Save for the darker blond hair and shorter height by a few inches, the other warrior looked to be a dead ringer for _her_, in her mind. _Who is she_? Samus wondered. _I have no sister. Could she really be a clone_?

Prime Samus then activated her scan visor and scanned the other Samus. Her scan read, _Bioform - Human with Chozo DNA embedded into genetic makeup. _ _Morphology - Samus Aran. Certain artificial genetic markers indicate that this subject is a clone and was likely flash-grown to adulthood. Mental signals indicate that memories were telepathically downloaded into her brain either during her flash-growing process or just after the process was completed. Likely chronological age of subject is approximately one Earth month of age. Biological age is around twenty-six Earth years old_. That clinched it for Samus. She was staring at her own clone. For her, though, it really was more like meeting a long lost twin sister. She could easily see herself in the face of the other Samus. She did not know what to do at this moment, or what the appropriate thing to do or think at this moment was. All she could think about was the fact that this other Samus was the closest thing she had to living family at this moment.

Just then, more footfalls could be heard behind them. Soon, Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk came onto the scene and saw the two Samuses staring at each other, with one of them aiming her arm cannon at the other. Kreatz and Mauk looked at the two Samuses staring and noticed that one of them had her helmet off. That Samus had dark blond hair, darker than the hair that the Samus they had seen in sickbay of the _G.F.S. Olympus_ had, and was shorter too. Adam stepped forward, raising his visor, and decided to try to figure out who was who. The Samus whose helmet was removed took one look at Adam and her eyes flashed with joy and shock.

"Adam?" she stammered as she walked forward towards General Malkovich. "Is that really you?" Her voice was full of hope and joy, her face beaming.

"Yes," Adam responded, a note of hesitation in his voice.

Clone Samus then rushed towards him and hugged him. "Adam!" she exclaime joyfully. "You're alive! I can't believe it!"

"I can hardly believe it, either," Adam replied kindly, returning her embrace.

"But Sector Zero…its destruction…how did you survive?" There were so many other questions that Clone Samus also wanted to ask, but these were the first to spring to mind.

"With a lot of assistance, and luck," Adam replied. He then took one look at her and realized that the Samus he was talking to was not as tall as he remembered, and her hair was also darker, and she also had a mole under the left part of her lower lip. He had remembered Samus dying her hair at times, but she had never had a mole. Adam then realized that he was talking to a clone of Samus. He also remembered that the Samus on the _Bottle Ship_ had the same features as the one that had embraced him. The guilt he felt for what he did to her on the _Bottle Ship_ overflowed once more as he looked her in the eyes. He did not want to hurt her again with the revelation that she was a clone. He then glanced over at Prime Samus and mouthed, _Clone_.

"I know," Prime Samus answered verbally. "I already scanned her."

"Know what?" Clone Samus asked of Adam and Prime Samus.

Adam gave a sigh, wondering what he should do. Should he lie and say that it was nothing, or tell her the truth that she was a clone. Eventually, he decided that it would be a greater disservice to lie to her than to tell her a truth that would be difficult to bear. He then looked her in the eye and answered in as kind and understanding a voice as possible, "That you are a clone of the original Samus Aran, who is standing behind me."

Anthony's eyes flashed, as did the Clone Samus's. "A clone?" she stammered. She could scarcely believe it at the time. "But that's not possible. I can't be a clone. I have all of these memories," she disputed. "I remember leaving after Adam refused to let me save his brother Ian and after he died. How can I be a clone?"

"Samus," Adam began, "Ian wasn't killed in that explosion all those years ago. Samus, the original Samus, disobeyed my orders and went out to save him. The drive unit of the ship exploded, and he was injured in the explosion, as was Samus, but due to her Chozo Power Suit, in addition to her Chozo DNA, she had not received as much damage as anyone else would have, and recovered. Ian, who was in inferior armor, even though Samus had taken the brunt of the blast, was in a coma for almost a year, and has since undergone years of rehabilitation, trying to regain his full mobility and the ability to fight in the field once more."

Samus did not want to say anything, but she felt that her clone had the right to know. "According to my scan, your memories were uploaded to your brain by means of telepathy," she told her. "It is likely that at some point, I was telepathically scanned and my memories were then transferred to you. I wouldn't be surprised if this was during my coma after Zebes exploded, or the coma I was in during the early weeks of the Phazon Crisis, for I had several vivid nightmares of not being able to save Ian Malkovich on both of those occasions."

Clone Samus then began to put everything together. She had gotten her memories from Samus's dreams. It also helped to explain why she had such reactions to Ridley when according to her own memories, she should have been more angry than scared when she faced him, and that the difficulty would be to not do foolish things when facing him in battle. Despite her memories of fighting Ridley, she had frozen at the sight of him twice, even though she had faced him before when believing him to be dead without freezing. This was also added to fact that she also awakened in a Quarantine bay in Galactic Federation Headquarters. This was interesting, since according to her memories, she had been wounded after the escape from Zebes as the planet exploded, but was still somehow able to make it back to Daiban, as well as having still been dressed in her Zero Suit, which was in pristine condition when she had awakened, when standard procedure in a hospital was to put patients in hospital robes. Then a dreadful series of questions crossed her mind. Had _she_ been part of these Special Forces that the renegade elements of the Galactic Federation had built? Were the Special Forces actually centered around _her_, and not the Space Pirates? If so, what was their purpose? What was hers? It was so much for her to take in, but she would not be able to stand around musing for long, for roars were heard down the corridor.

"Okay everybody, looks like we'll have to have our questions answered another time. It's time to go," Anthony bellowed as the roars got louder. "The ship's one corridor away."

"I'll take point!" Prime Samus cried.

"I'll take rearguard!" Clone Samus called out. She would not let them be ambushed by any of the station's bioweapons. Her helmet then reappeared over her face and she prepared to face down any enemies that tried to ambush them. As she scanned the corridor and stood ready to intercept any attackers, she also began to wonder if the reason she had volunteered for the rearguard was because she did not want to risk facing another Ridley again. She had frozen against him for a second time now. And she was still scared of him this time, despite having faced him seven previous times, according to her memories, and actually faced him once already. One part of her wanted another crack at Ridley, just to prove herself to Adam and to her original that she could be just as good as the real Samus Aran. Another part of her did not want to have to face another Ridley, for fear of freezing again and having one of her friends die. Had her original not fired those Super Missiles at Ridley, Platoon 07 would have been decimated by his plasma breath, and that time, Anthony _would_ have died. She looked up at Anthony noticed that he was not asking a lot of questions, either of Adam, Samus, or her. She hoped that was because he was more concerned about getting his forces off the station alive, than the fact that he simply did not care about the recent revelations, assuming they were all true. She still had her doubts, though they did make a lot of sense given her recent behavior, which was decidedly out of character for what she knew of Samus Aran. She almost chuckled to herself about referring to herself as Samus Aran, as if Samus were a different person. She then shook off the thought so that she would not be caught off guard by any attacking enemy and killed, or fail to protect any of the soldiers ahead of her.

Up ahead, Prime Samus took point and led the rest of the platoon, with Anthony standing beside her, down the next corridor. There, she saw an unknown lifeform that Anthony had learned was an adolescent Ridley. Samus was about to scan it when Anthony held up his hand, aiming his plasma cannon at it, telling Samus, "Princess, if you're the princess, that's an adolescent Ridley there. He's a great wrestler, but he doesn't have the range his adult counterpart has."

"I see," Samus answered, preparing her Ice Spreader, apparently not at all shocked that the creature before her was an adolescent form of a clone of her most hated nemesis. She charged her Ice Beam and then unleashed an expanding wave of ice from her arm cannon. The Adolescent Ridley saw the blast of ice coming and tried to flee, but the spread of ice overtook him and the creature was frozen solid. Samus then powered a missile and fired it at the block of ice that had encased the creature. The missile struck the block of ice and detonated, shattering it and the creature as well.

Once the Adolescent Ridley had been taken care of, Samus scanned the corridor and found a hole in the left wall about twenty meters away. "That's our ride," Anthony called out to the others. He soon called, "Lieutenant Gomez."

Damara Gomez then stepped forward and retracted her visor. She then turned to face Anthony Higgs. "Sir," she bellowed, saluting her commanding officer. Samus recognized the woman from when she had saved her from the Space Pirates on the planet Jigrad.

"Lieutenant, I'm leaving you in charge of Platoon 07 for the time being," Anthony told her. "I have a mission to accomplish here."

Samus's eyes went wide with worry and dread at his statement, for so far, the survival rate of those who went on missions with her while she was a bounty hunter was zero. "No, Anthony, don't do this," Samus insisted. "This is my fight."

He then turned to Samus and said, "I know you aren't here on a social call. Somethin's still on this station, isn't it?"

Samus nodded.

"What is it?" he asked, his concern evident.

"It's MB," Adam responded.

"MB?" Anthony replied loudly, with shock. "But I thought she was shot down by General Mansfield's men on the _Bottle Ship_."

"An android replica of her was," Adam replied. "But _she_ was inside of Sector Zero and had formed a body out of nanites that she designed herself. We followed her here, where we think she plans to finish what she started."

He then quickly went back to his platoon and told them, "Lieutenant Gomez is in command until I return, or further notice. Here's my final order. Get out of here and return to Galactic Federation Headquarters. If you don't hear from me within two hours, consider me dead and take this message to the Galactic Federation Council. Tell them to come to _Research Facility Seven-Seven-Seven_ and blow it to kingdom come. Tell them to do it fast, too. And also tell them to destroy the wreckage. Don't stop until every piece of this station is utterly vaporized. There's an enemy here that we're ill equipped to deal with, but Samus Aran, here, _might_ be able to handle. I want you all to get out of here so that incase we fail, you and the rest of the Federation can carry out our final mission and end the threat this station poses, once and for all."

"Yes, sir!" the rest of the platoon responded loudly and clearly. The platoon then proceeded to file onto the _Hermes_ with Anthony remaining behind to assist Samus, clone Samus, Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk.

"Anthony, you don't have to do this," Samus insisted. "If anyone should be going on that transport back to the Federation, it's _you_."

"I know, Princess," Anthony replied. "I'm doing this so I keep an eye on _you_ so you don't do anything foolish and get yourself killed."

"I'm not _that_ girl, anymore," Samus retorted. "Besides, I managed to save Ian, _and_ survive."

"I know, Samus," Anthony said with an understanding expression. "But I still think that you can use the extra firepower. Every little bit will help if this MB is as powerful as you think, and she has control over all of the bioweapons onboard this station."

Seeing that it was useless to argue with him, she looked over at Adam, hoping that being Anthony's superior officer that he would tell Anthony to rejoin his platoon and get off this station before he became the latest in the long list of dead friends and comrades of Samus Aran. Instead, Adam merely said, "Welcome aboard, Captain it seems," he added, noticing Anthony's new rank insignia.

"Yes it is, General," Anthony replied, saluting. "And thank you for having me, sir."

It did not take long for Platoon 07 to file onto the _Hermes_. Once the platoon had boarded the ship, the boarding hatch closed and Anthony lowered his visor, as did Adam. Kreatz and Mauk put on their atmospheric helmets and masks and the six companions left the corridor. After they entered another corridor, they felt the rush of air against their suits and they struggled to walk forward while the area decompressed. Several bioweapons rushed past them, flailing as if to grab hold of something before they were blown out into space. The group soon approached a set of doors and reached them at full speed, with the Samuses pulling Adam and Anthony along. Once they had entered the doors, the airflow stopped and they could walk more easily once again.

Outside, the _G.F.S. Hermes_ detached from the hull and pulled away from the station and flew out into space, navigating the debris field that had been formed by the destruction of the _Loki_ and the _Chimera_. It did not take long for the ship to make its way out of the debris field and into open space. Once the ship had exited the debris field, it immediately jumped to warp, and made its way back to Galactic Federation Headquarters, praying to hear word of the success of Samus, Anthony, Adam Malkovich, and everyone else that was going to try to destroy the station.

Inside the now barren corridor, save for the Federation soldiers, Adam then removed his visor and said, "Okay everyone, we need to formulate a plan for how we are going to take down MB and destroy this station before she manages to convert it into a transport and jump it to Daiban and Galactic Federation Headquarters."

"Does she really think that she can take over the Galactic Federation merely by taking out the Headquarters on Daiban?" Kreatz asked.

Adam gave a melancholy nod. "Yes she does." His tone then became darker as he continued, "And yes, she may very well can. Here's why. The Galactic Federation isn't nearly as stable, or as popular, both with its members and other powers, as you may think. Despite the non-aggression pact that's about to be signed with the Lylat System, and the good chance of Lylat becoming an ally of the Federation, along with everything that Elric is saying about its growth and strength, ever since he took over the Chairmanship after Keaton died, there has been a great deal of unrest inside the Galactic Federation. Earth has twice nearly seceded from the Federation, basically daring the Federation to stop them. Earth has already been building up its defenses and its own military forces in anticipation of potential fighting in the future."

"I've seen the defenses over Earth," Clone Samus chimed in. "They're impressive, to say the least. And they look like they're preparing for something, too."

"Earth is as heavily defended as it is because Earth fears that the Federation may declare martial law any time now, and it has already stated that it will refuse to enact it, and would defend itself if the Federation pushed the issue," Adam explained. "Some on Earth, and other worlds in the Federation, fear that the Federation may use the Council to take direct control of the worlds inside the Federation. If Daiban, or even just Galactic Federation Headquarters, is taken out of the picture, then the rest of the Federation may well fragment and split apart into various factions and alliances. Many are already dissatisfied with the current Federation regime. Many are also suspicious of Elric's recent activities. This latest series of events won't do a thing to calm any of their suspicions of Elric. Several of the stronger planets, like Earth, are already strong enough as is to stand on their own and make a Federation takeover exceedingly costly. Such planets won't need the others, though planets like Earth will likely have allies in the Luminoth, and the Ascended Chozo of Tallon IV. Others may well think that they're strong enough to take over the Federation all on their own, basically becoming the new headquarters, and masters, of the Galactic Federation."

"So why not strike at Earth?" Mauk asked. "If what you say is right, then Earth is the strongest and most heavily defended planet in the Federation. If Daiban fell, then Earth would quickly be able to take over as the headquarters of the Federation."

"Have you seen Earth's defenses?" Clone Samus retorted. "This station wouldn't make it past the first line of Earth's defenses. And even if it jumped back behind Earth's orbital defenses and literally tried to crash into Earth, itself, it would have Earth's surface based defenses to deal with as well as the Legendary Pokémon that roam the planet. Taking Earth is out of the question."

"Besides, her grudge is against the Galactic Federation, not any single member of it," Adam added. "She has no wish to destroy Aether, Tallon IV, or Earth individually, despite her hatred of humans and their allies. She wants to destroy the collective Galactic Federation. Daiban is her only target."

"There are still twenty-seven billion people on Daiban and in orbit," Anthony said. "If she takes it out, she'll be inflicting enough damage as is, especially in loss of life."

"So, what's the plan to stop her?" Kreatz asked, finding the political lesson and discussion of potential damage done should MB succeed boring.

"We go to the Control Bridge and shut down the computer core from there," Adam answered.

"Why there?" Kreatz asked. "Why not go to Main Engineering and the computer core and take it out down there?"

"Because the computer core is heavily defended against intruders," Clone Samus replied. "The Control Bridge is not likely to be nearly as well defended, if it is at all given the fact that Federation forces already fought for control of the bridge. Besides, it's much closer than the computer core," she added. "It's only a few corridors away."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to the Control Bridge!" the elf exclaimed. Samus and Adam then led the way, followed by Clone Samus, Anthony, Kreatz, and then Mauk.

The six soldiers and warriors walked down the corridor, not all that surprised by the lack of resistance they faced. Only the odd Zoomer or Reo popped out to face them, each bioweapon instantly shot down by Samus or Adam. Still, the group was careful not to get overconfident. They knew that once MB got wise to their scheme that she would send in the big guns to take them out. They walked down another corridor and saw a single lightly armored Zebesian Space Pirate standing guard. Samus immediately took out the Zebesian with a single shot from her Plasma Beam. The group then proceeded into another corridor, where they encountered a Kyratian. Before the Kyratian could even open fire, Samus and Clone Samus fired blasts of orange and green plasma respectively and practically vaporized the creature. After the Kyratian was defeated, they proceeded forward. As they rounded the corner and entered the next corridor, they saw more bodies, both Federation Army, renegade trooper, and even some Zebesian, litter the floor. With the Zebesians having fallen among the troopers with no platoon markings or identification, she suspected that they had been working with whoever had been hiding onboard this station. Her answers would come when she got to the Control Bridge.

The next corridor they traveled through was devoid of any life. They quickly passed through the corridor and soon came to the access corridor to the Control Bridge of the station. The party noted that the doors were open, as if inviting them all onto the bridge. They did not like the looks of it and were on guard.

"Be alert, everybody," Adam cautioned, noting the various air ducts and tunnels where enemy soldiers could lie in wait for enemies to approach, as well as the bridge doors being open, themselves. Samus also made note of the ducts and viewed them as perfect places for ambushes to be set. Clone Samus also noticed them and took the initiative to fire on a few of these ducts. Her green Plasma Beam, with her Wave Beam stacked beneath it, phased through the ducts and incinerated the Reos and Zoomers present in them. However, her fire also served to alert the other bioweapons in the area as to the intruders. As such, several Zebesians, Kyratians, six Ghalmanians, two Rhedogians, two Desbrachians, and even an Adolescent Ridley appeared.

"Oh, crud," Clone Samus muttered as she targeted each of the creatures, knowing that they were badly outnumbered by powerful enemies. "Just when it looked like we would make it without a real fight." To make matters worse, the bridge doors were closing as well.

Prime Samus wasted no time and began a mad sprint towards the bridge. "Wait, Samus," Adam called after her. "It's a trap!"

"I know," she called back as she continued to run until the Speed Booster came into effect. Immediately, a field of energy surrounded Samus and for a split second, she traveled faster than the speed of sound. A sonic blast echoed throughout the corridor as she rocketed towards the bridge, blasting through the Adolescent Ridley, disintegrating him with a single hit, and also plowing through the Desbrachians. She managed to reach the bridge and get through the doors a split second before they closed on her. The doors clanged shut and their green highlights turned red, indicating that they were locked. "Samus!" Adam cried frantically, praying for her survival. He then knew what he needed to do. He lowered his visor and immediately targeted the nearest bioweapon and opened fire. He would destroy the bioweapons and help Samus face off against MB, no matter what it took.

Meanwhile, on the Control Bridge, the doors clanked shut behind Samus as she managed to dive through them before they shut off her access to the bridge. She looked back and saw the highlights of the door change from green to red, signifying that they were now locked. She looked forward and saw a young human woman with blond hair dressed in a lab coat standing before her. She recognized the figure as being MB. She glowered at MB as the android grinned confidently. Samus was anxious to wipe that grin off her face, and raised her arm cannon, leveling it at MB, MB's telepathy apparently not having any effect on her this time. She almost gave a grin as she charged her Plasma Beam. Once it was fully charged, she unleashed a burst of orange plasma at MB. The plasma scored a direct hit on MB's chest and burned a large hole into her torso and she staggered backwards a few steps. She was not heavily damaged, though, and just as soon as she stopped staggering backwards, the large hole filled in, as if she were regenerating. After one second had passed, the hole was filled and MB stood there, as if she had sustained no damage whatsoever. She looked down at her newly repaired chest and then back up at Samus and said, "Not bad, Samus. It looks like you've overcome my mental attacks on your mind." She then gave a dark smile and continued, "But it doesn't change anything. You won't be able to defeat me. I have weapons and abilities that you could not even comprehend."

MB then proceeded to draw a large pistol that looked to be almost the size of a rifle or carbine from her back and took aim at Samus. Samus immediately sped away from MB faster than the human eye could track. She rightly figured that MB would not be using a simple pistol against her unless that pistol had some special property that would give her an edge against her. MB, being an android, however, was able to track Samus's movement and use her own enhanced android reflexes and physical abilities to get a lock onto Samus. Leading her shot, she fired a blue pulse of energy at Samus. The blast of energy struck Samus's suit and energy began to arc across the suit. The suit then began to destabilize and after a few seconds, the suit had vanished entirely, leaving Samus with only her white sleeveless Zero Suit and her energy pistol.

MB grinned at the sight as she drew a second energy pistol, this one much more compact. She pushed a button on the side of the pistol and the highlights on the pistol became blue. Samus guessed that it now functioned as an Ice Pistol. MB holstered her other pistol and took aim at Samus, grinning. "I told you I had weapons and abilities that you could not comprehend. My disruptor pistol was specifically designed to disrupt Chozo technology, which your Varia Suit is." She then narrowed her gaze on Samus. "Your suit won't come back for at least one minute. And there's no way you'll last that long against me. In fact, you won't last another second against me," she finished arrogantly.

MB then pulled the trigger of her pistol and a blue blast of ice emerged from the pistol. But Samus had already moved from her position and the blast of ice splashed against the rear wall, which now had an ice covering around a half meter in diameter. MB then felt a weight strike her in her torso as Samus reappeared in front of the android. MB's eyes went wide in shock as Samus's strike hit her and forced her off her feet and into the air. Despite MB's weight, she still sailed at least ten meters through the air and when she crashed onto the floor, she skidded a few more feet before coming to a stop.

"Damn she's fast," MB gasped as she slowly rose. She then saw a hole get burned into her body as an orange pulse of energy struck her. Her nanites formed around the wound and repaired the damage. Samus's smile echoed MB's formerly confident grin. MB suddenly realized that this battle would be a lot harder than she initially believed.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Samus fired again at MB, who absorbed the blasts, suffering no real damage as her nanite body instantly repaired itself and regenerated from the small injuries inflicted on her form. However, she began to worry about Samus's natural abilities that were not augmented by her suit. She had always figured that Samus was faster inside her suit rather than outside of it, despite the bulky shoulder pads that framed her Varia Suit. Outside of her suit, though, Samus seemed to be a lot faster than before. The only good part of this was the fact that Samus did not have any weapons that could really harm her. The Paralyzer that Samus had carried on her blue Zero Suit on Zebes might have inflicted some damage to her nanites, but the pistol Samus currently carried was an energy pistol designed to actually hurt and kill her enemies. However, Samus would be a threat to MB once more when got her suit back. She had to take Samus out now, for if she failed to do so, she knew that she would be unable to defeat Samus in her armored suit, and Samus _did_ have weapons in her suit that would be able to inflict severe, if not fatal, damage to her. Despite her outward display of confidence, she had relied on her telepathy to influence Samus and to catch her off guard, and her telepathic advantage was now gone. She doubted that Samus would be caught unawares again, inside or out of her suit. And without her suit, it seemed as if Samus was even more resistant to her telepathy than with it.

MB proceeded to back away and fire off a series of ice blasts from her pistol. The blue blasts of freezing energy crossed the distance between her and Samus, but Samus was moving too quickly even for _her_ to get an accurate bead on. All she could do was keep moving and firing in order to keep Samus off balance and hope that one of her shots managed to tag the bounty hunter. It was then that she realized that her greatest chance to quickly kill Samus would be after Samus _did_ regain her suit. Once her suit rematerialized over her body, MB would fire her Chozo Technology Disruptor at the bounty hunter. Then, as Samus's suit was dematerializing, she would freeze her with her Ice Pistol and then shatter her with a single punch. However, her plan was foiled when Samus appeared in front of her once more and grabbed her disruptor pistol and yanked it from her grasp. She then tossed it across the Control Bridge, far away from MB.. She then grabbed MB's wrist and swung her around a few times and then released the android and let her sail through the air and into a bulkhead at the other end of the bridge, unfortunately, at the opposite end of the bridge from her disruptor pistol. She soon saw Samus rushing towards the pistol, rather than shooting it with her own energy pistol. In fact, Samus had already holstered her own weapon. _Damn_, she swore to herself. _She knows what the pistol is capable of, and the fact that my nanites are direct Chozo technology_.

MB proceeded to target her disruptor pistol with her own pistol, switching to her pistol to its Plasma setting so that it would destroy her weapon outright. She could call upon reinforcements to face down Samus if things got desperate, but if Samus managed to get a hold of that pistol, then she had a weapon that could actually inflict real damage on her, if not actually destroy her. Just as she fired her green plasma blast, though, the pistol disappeared and the plasma struck the floor and merely burned a small furrow into the metal of the floor. She quickly jumped away from her previous position and barely managed to avoid an electric blue pulse of energy that whizzed past her head. She risked a glance over at Samus and saw that she was holding the Chozo Technology Disruptor pistol in her hands and drawing a bead on her. She then figured that the best thing she could do was to find some cover and hope that Samus did not beat her to it or manage to tag her before she reached cover.

She dove behind a console as another blast of electric blue energy sailed over her head. She risked peering above the console and taking a shot at Samus. Her plasma shot went wide and Samus also took cover behind a column near the Captain's chair. MB took some more shots at Samus, but none of her shots hit their mark, the closest managing to burn some small furrows into the column that Samus was hiding behind. Samus's return fire, however, did hit her intended target. Samus's disruptor blast struck MB's pistol arm and immediately, her arm went dead and collapsed into a pile of nanites. She dropped the pistol and fell behind the console. She was fortunate that her arm did not fall off due to the disruptor's effect before she fell back behind cover. Once she did, her arm collapsed onto the ground into a pile of gray metallic sands. It would take her nanites a few seconds to gather their fallen brethren, repair them and reintegrate them into her systems. Fortunately, she was ambidextrous, and as such, could use her left hand as her gun hand. She immediately picked up her pistol once more and took more shots at Samus as she zigzagged her way towards MB's console. Not wanting to stay out in the open and allow MB a chance to shoot her, she ducked behind a console closer to MB, avoiding some more of MB's plasma blasts, but she still had the advantage of having a weapon that could damage MB.

MB took cover so as to avoid any of Samus's own fire. She suspected that Samus's suit would reactivate soon. She knew that she had to do something quickly, before Samus's suit was restored and she would be able to survive anything that she could throw at her, for without her Chozo Technology Disruptor pistol, once Samus regained her suit she would likely destroy the pistol and deny MB the only weapon she had that could inflict harm to her in her armored suit. MB knew that she only had one shot at Samus and decided that it was time to take the risk. She emerged from her cover and took aim at Samus at the same time Samus rose from her console and took aim at MB. The two fired at each other simultaneously and the two energy blasts nearly collided as they passed each other. Their energy fields did not disrupt their containment fields or divert their paths, though, so the blasts continued unabated towards their targets. MB's blast went a little wide of Samus and struck the wall behind her, scorching a small back mark into it. Samus's shot, however, managed to score a direct hit on MB's chest. MB immediately felt the nanites in her chest that controlled her ability to walk and function shut down and she fell to the floor. It was a miracle that nanites' bonds did not break and her chest did not fall apart upon impact. She was not dead, yet.

She used her arms to drag herself out from her cover as she still pointed her plasma pistol at Samus. Samus, however, was not concerned. She merely leveled her disruptor pistol at MB and fired once more. Another blue energy pulse struck MB and she felt more her nanites shut down, resulting in her most of her body ceasing to function. She knew that the end was coming. Still, she could get her revenge. As she felt her voice leaving, she croaked, "Don't forget to check the computer, Sammy, girl. You really want to see what the Galactic Federation is really up to."

Samus gave no response as she fired again at MB. The pulse struck MB in the head and electricity arced across MB's body as she completely shut down and collapsed into a pile of nanites. Samus knew that the battle was not over yet, though. She closed her eyes and reactivated her suit. A golden glow of light surrounded her and her suit rematerialized over her body. Once her suit had rematerialized, she switched to her Ice Beam and charged her Ice Beam. She then proceeded to unleash the blast of freezing energy at the pile of nanites. Her Charged Ice Beam shot froze the nanites and encased them in a block of ice. She fired another blast to make sure that all of the nanites were frozen. Once she did so, she transformed into her Morph Ball form and rolled up to the ice block. She then laid a Power Bomb and waited for it to detonate. It soon exploded and engulfed the block of ice in a wave of destructive energy. The wave continued to expand and consume the ice block, annihilating it. Once the wave dispersed, Samus scanned the area and there were no trace of nanites remaining on the bridge. MB was finally destroyed.

After MB's destruction, the computer consoles and data screens sprang to life on the bridge. The doors switched from red to green and proceeded to open. As they opened, Adam, Clone Samus, Kreatz, and Mauk filed onto the Control Bridge. As they stepped onto the bridge, they scanned the area, noticing the melting ice covering parts of the wall, as well as the black scorch marks burned into various columns and consoles. Samus went over to Adam and told him, "It's done. MB is destroyed."

Adam was still skeptical. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"I deactivated the nanites that made up her body with a Chozo Disruptor Pistol, froze her remains, and then vaporized them with a Power Bomb," Samus answered. "I then scanned the whole bridge to make sure I did not miss any nanites. I detected none. MB is dead."

That answer seemed to satisfy Adam. He then went over to the tactical console and told everyone, "Alright, let's do what we came here to do."

He then typed a series of commands into the console and a holographic image of the ship appeared. He then tapped another series of commands into the computer, but a large red sign flashed up onto the screen and the hologram, reading, _Access denied_. Adam grimaced. He then typed in the same commands again. Again, _Access denied_ appeared on the screen and hologram.

"What's wrong?" Mauk asked.

"The computer isn't accepting my command codes," Adam replied.

"That's not surprising, considering that whoever was in command here must have changed them," Kreatz commented.

"It is when I have command override access to any and all research stations in this region of space," Adam responded a little harshly.

Samus then approached the console and said, "Let me have a look."

She then stood over the console and activated her Scan Visor. She then scanned the computer console. Her Scan Visor's hacking ability was easily able to overcome the security protocols of the bridge's computer and the data held inside the ship's memory banks was immediately put on display on all of the consoles on the bridge, as well as being downloaded to the logbook of Samus's Varia Suit. She studied the information and merely stood still as it came onto her HUD, not saying a word. The others began to get a little concerned and Anthony went over to her, and asked, "What is it?"

"Check the computer terminals," she answered. "You won't believe what we've found."

The others did so, Clone Samus standing at the communications console, Anthony at the weapons station, Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk at other stations. What they saw astounded them all, for on the information screens were the names of those who authorized and supported Project Hunter and Project Metroid Warriors. Among those names was Elric, Chairman of the Galactic Federation Council. The rest of the names consisted of those already known by Anthony and Clone Samus, but were news to Adam, Kreatz, Mauk, and Prime Samus. Samus then stumbled upon a recording in the station's memory banks. She pushed a button on her console and activated it. Immediately, a holographic viewscreen appeared and both Samus and Anthony began to record what was being played.

On the screen, the image of a tank that was about three meters in height appeared. Inside the tank was a young adult woman that looked almost exactly like Prime Samus, save for having darker blond hair and noticeably larger breasts. She was dressed in what appeared to be a bikini, likely done in order to maintain some form of modesty, and had a small band around her forehead. Wires were extending from the band to the top of the tank. Standing near the tank were several scientists. Next to the scientists stood Chairman Elric. Elric was flanked by two Army Troopers, or security officers dressed Army Trooper power suits. Also present were Speaker of the Council, Chamolos, as well as the new Minister of Truth, Eiden, and the Director of the Federation Intelligence Agency, and a large number of secret security organizations, Drayka. "So, this is the clone of Samus Aran that you have grown," Elric mused out loud. So far, her eyes looked blank, vacant, and she was not as tall as he remembered the original Samus being. As such, he was unimpressed.

"Yes, she is," the lead scientist, a human male in his late forties wearing a lab coat and glasses, said. "Don't let her looks fool you. She's not finished yet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elric asked.

"We still need to download her memories into her," Chamolos responded. "Without her memories, she is nothing more than a mindless drone that looks like the most dangerous bounty hunter in history outside of her suit."

"How do you intend to transfer the memories into her?"

"That's where I come in, Chairman," a voice responded from behind the Chairman. Immediately, a Galactic Federation Army Trooper came up to Elric. "Sergeant James Pierce, formerly of Galactic Federation Intelligence group, now member of Platoon 07, sir," he said, saluting the Chairman and raising the visor of his helmet, revealing his face.

"How can you transfer the memories of Samus into her clone?" Elric asked.

"It's simple, really," James Pierce responded, going over to a console and inputting several commands into the console. "We already have Samus Aran's history on record from when she served in the Galactic Federation Army and Police Force under the command of General Adam Malkovich. Those memories have already been put into her brain. All that remained was to give us her memories from the rest of her memories from her time as a bounty hunter. That we don't have, save for some reports that she gave us after she completed her missions. And we can't just use any files and reports from her for that because then some people might get a little suspicious. Hell, _she_ may well get a little suspicious. Besides, we don't need an imperfect facsimile of Samus. We want one that's as close to the real one as possible, right sir?"

"Perhaps," Elric said, stroking his chin. "But that doesn't explain how you were able to get those memories or how you'll transfer them into the clone."

"I'm a telepath," James Pierce responded. "I'm not that strong, and a normal who is aware is more than capable of blocking me or resisting a scan. However, since Samus was in a coma, when I scanned her, she was unable to resist. As such, I managed to get a good idea of her more recent missions by scanning her dreams, since that was as far as I could scan without risking her discovering me and resisting the scan, even while asleep."

"Her dreams?" Elric gasped in shock. He then looked at Sergeant Pierce in the eyes and said, "You want to use her _dreams_ to simulate real life memories?"

"I couldn't delve any deeper without risking damage to myself. Even though Samus is in a coma, her mind is still quite strong. Even with her barriers down, she can still ward off a weak attack. You'd be surprised how resistant a strong minded person is to scans, especially while dreaming when they can control their dreams. Besides, they're close enough to her real memories to be usable." He then closed his eyes for a moment and looked at the clone floating in the tank. Two of Elric's kind were standing near the tank, their eyes glowing as Clone Samus opened her eyes. Immediately, her eyes closed and she was unconscious once more. "Excellent," Pierce said, "The transfer's complete."

"Are you certain that we need this?" Elric asked, turning to Chamolos. "We already have Project Metroid Warriors underway on the _Bottle Ship_."

"Yes sir," Chamolos responded. "You see, Samus is not just a powerful and skilled bounty hunter; she is also a symbol, in more ways than one. Despite all the stuff she has experienced in her life, she is still strong and has not let herself get beaten down by her own circumstances. Also, enemies of the Galactic Federation fear the prospect of fighting Samus, since many of her missions are given to her by the Galactic Federation. With the real Samus Aran still in a coma onboard the _G.F.S. Olympus_, and not showing many signs of improvement, the Clone Samus will be a necessary asset for the Galactic Federation. The Federation needs a Samus Aran."

"But what use do we have for a Samus who might disobey us?" Elric asked. "Samus was once in the Galactic Federation military, but she left after she disobeyed a direct order and went to cover the Chozo's escape from Zebes when Mother Brain betrayed them and allowed the Space Pirates to land and take over. She later went on to become an independent bounty hunter. Who's to say that this Samus won't disobey a direct order given by the Federation in the future?"

"We've already taken that into account," Drayka responded. "You see; we have two telepaths of your species here. They have been making some…modifications to her personality."

"What sort of modifications?"

"We have accentuated certain personality traits and recent 'memories'," Eiden explained. "For example, we have accentuated the original Samus's connection to the Metroid Hatchling that she spared on SR388 and brought back to Ceres Space Colony, and died saving Samus on Zebes, in her mind. We have also accentuated her attachment to Adam Malkovich to the point where she will be loyal to him no matter what."

"How do you intend to test that?" Elric asked.

"We have ways," James Pierce replied. "There are always problems cropping up all throughout the Federation, especially in recent times. And anyone here knows that the projects on the _Bottle Ship_ are going to go wrong at some point. It's only a matter of time before the scientists there get in over their heads. All we have to do is wait for the _Bottle Ship_ experiments to go wrong. Then, we'll use it as the test site for Clone Samus."

Clone Samus gasped at the revelation, as did Adam. Prime Samus merely gritted her teeth. She had never seen this side of the Galactic Federation before, or rather, Elric and his people. There was no proof that the rest of the Federation was in on their plan, yet. She, and the others then refocused on the image.

"But how do you intend to ensure that she is loyal?" Elric asked. "What if I give an order she views as immoral, or outright illegal, and refuses to obey it?"

"We have ways to test that, too," Chamolos answered. He then motioned for James Pierce to explain further.

"Since I am a latent telepath, I can bring up certain memories from Adam Malkovich's subconscious, especially if he is under attack from other telepathic influences. There is a clone of Mother Brain onboard the _Bottle Ship_. Mother Brain is telepathic, so if, or rather, when, things go to hell, I can eliminate any witnesses while we test our Clone Samus and her dependence on Adam Malkovich. And we'll test her dependence on him by having him remember her betrayal of him when she left the Federation. I'll help accentuate any feelings of bitterness and anger that he felt towards her at that moment. We'll then see how she responds to his orders. _He_ will be the anchor that keeps her loyal to the Galactic Federation."

"And what if the original Samus Aran awakens and makes a full recovery?" Elric asked.

"Then we'll have to eliminate one of them," Chamolos responded. "The best bet would be to eliminate the original Samus, since she will still be the more dangerous of the two. Our Samus will be controlled, and thus, a little less dangerous or independent. This will also likely make her not quite as smart than the original as well, especially when around Adam."

"How so?"

"Well, she'll likely either wait for his authorization to use her weapons or defensive abilities should Adam state that she not be allowed to use them, for whatever reason," Chamolos explained. "She will do so even should the risk to herself be greater than it normally would or should."

"And with me influencing Adam to hold a grudge against Samus for leaving the Federation, and him, we'll soon see just how submissive our Samus really is," James Pierce added.

"Good," Elric said. He then went over to a table on the other side of the room. On the table, a team of elfen engineers of Elric's species were working on an armored suit that looked identical to Samus's Power Suit. When he arrived, he went over to the lead engineer on the project and asked, "Now, how us her Power Suit coming along?"

"It's coming along fine, Chairman," the lead engineer answered. "We should be finished in a few hours."

"And this suit is just as powerful as the original Samus Aran's?"

"Uh, not exactly," the elf stammered in reply.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, while the suit is based upon Chozo technology, it's not really just a compilation of Federation knockoffs of Chozo technology," the elf explained.

"Will this suit have all of the abilities and technology present on Samus Aran's own Power Suit?"

"Yes, Chairman," the elf answered. He then listed all of the powers and abilities that the suit would have. "It will have the Varia and Gravity upgrades, along with the Power, Charge, Wave, Ice, and Plasma Beams. They'll also be stacked when fully active. It also has the Morph Ball form, with Bombs and Power Bombs. In addition, it will also have missiles and Super Missiles, along with the Speed Booster, Space Jump, and Screw Attack. Everything that Samus's original suit has."

Elric grinned at the description of the suit's abilities. "Then why won't it be as strong as the original suit?" Elric asked in a harsh tone.

"Its defenses are significantly weaker than those of Samus's original suit. Even with the Gravity feature activated, its defensive shields won't match the power of Samus's own Power Suit, without the Varia or Gravity upgrades."

Chairman Elric then gave a scowl. "Can anything be done to increase its shield power?"

The elf shook his head. "No sir. Not unless you take even more power away from the weapons systems, which are also weaker than those found on Samus's own suit."

"What use do we have for a weakened Samus that's likely not as smart as the original?" Elric roared. "I would feel more comfortable giving this suit to the Army or Marines!"

"Sir, this suit costs a lot to make," the elf replied sheepishly. "It's still based on alien technology. We never said that we'd be able to make it as powerful as Samus's original suit, either."

Elric then checked the screens of the data terminals close to the table and saw the power output of the weapons. "I'm less than impressed with these weapons, here," Elric stated. "This suit's charged Plasma Beam is only as powerful as a Federation Plasma Cannon, and the Freeze Gun's ice blasts are stronger than this suit's Ice Beam shots."

"There's nothing we can do about that, sir," the elf retorted. "We had to make a few sacrifices in order to make the suit viable. Don't worry, sir, the final product should be a bit stronger than the current specs indicate."

"It had better be," Elric nearly threatened.

"It will.

"I really need to have a powerful warrior backing me up right now. I can't have a Samus that's too weak. This Samus has to be close enough to the original in ability and mentality so as to not arouse any suspicions about the identity of _my_ Samus Aran, but also weak enough so as to serve me when I call upon her. The Council, particularly Councilman Williams of Earth, is already beginning to investigate the assassination of former Chairman Keaton. Many are saying that either I, or my Vice-Chairman Cyrus, are the ones responsible for it. If they ever learn of my involvement in the assassination, there will be trouble for all of us."

"Not necessarily," Chamolos responded, coming over to Elric, along with Drayka. "There are many who don't want Cyrus to take command of the Federation, particularly Councilman Williams of Earth. Given the fact that was Cyrus in command of the Earth based criminal organization known as Team Galactic, I don't know why you wanted him to be your Vice-Chairman, but he does provide you with some cover. Not only that, but Keaton was notoriously anti-military, and the military had shown its necessity during the Phazon Crisis, just before the former Chairman's unfortunate assassination."

"No he doesn't," Elric retorted. "If anything, once I'm impeached, I and Cyrus will mysteriously die and no one will investigate our deaths very deeply. Besides, if that comes out, it won't be long before they find out that I had dealings with the Space Pirates during the Phazon Crisis and that it was my people that gave them the information about the _G.F.S. Valhalla_ on my authorization."

"There will be no reason to impeach you if your connection to these projects, or the Space Pirates, is never discovered," Drayka told him. "Heck, you could even send Commander General Adam Malkovich and Platoon 07 to the _Bottle Ship_ to get the ball rolling once the time is right."

Elric seemed to consider what was being said. "Perhaps, but first, I need to be secure in the knowledge that no matter what happens, none of this comes back to me."

"Don't worry, sir," Chamolos assured him. "None of this will come back to you."

"Good," Elric stated. "For if the Council ever knew what we were planning on turning the Federation into, we would be doomed."

"I know, sir," Chamolos responded. "Don't worry, sir. There's no way your true motives will ever be revealed until it's already too late."

With that, Elric gave a grin. The telepaths at the side of Clone Samus's tank then used their telepathy to put Clone Samus to sleep and wipe her memory of anything that she may have heard during the conversation. It did not seem as if they knew that they were being recorded, though.

The program finished and the hologram disappeared. Samus and the others stared with their mouths open, in utter shock at what they had seen. "My gosh," Samus stammered. "This is what they were doing while I was in a coma?"

"Elric sent us on a suicide mission and intended for us to die," Adam growled. His sentiment was echoed by Anthony Higgs.

"He's a traitor," Anthony seethed.

"Did either of you get all of that?" Adam called out to Anthony and Samus? "Did you make sure that it was legitimate and not a fake set up by MB?"

"Yes, sir," they both responded in unison. "It's legitimate," Samus called out in answer. "My Scan Visor confirms as much."

They then looked over to Clone Samus, who was staring at the holographic projector in shock. "So that's all I am," she muttered to herself. "I'm only a weapon for a corrupt regime and leader out to destroy the Galactic Federation from within."

"No," Prime Samus answered firmly, coming over to support her clone. "You are more, much more than what they wanted to make you. You've proven as much in your short, but distinguished, career. Without you, none of this would have ever been revealed. We now have irrefutable evidence of Elric's crimes, as well as of his plans for the Galactic Federation. With this evidence, we can stop Elric's plans before they take effect, and it's all because of you. You're a hero."

"I froze against Ridley, twice," Clone Samus countered flatly. "One of those times nearly cost Anthony Higgs his life. It _would_ have cost Anthony his life if it had not been for his quick thinking and incredible luck," she corrected.

"I froze in my first encounter with Ridley after my parents had died," Samus told her clone.

"Come on. You were what, fourteen? Sixteen?" Samus's clone asked, focusing her gaze on Samus and staring her in the eyes. "When you fought your first real battle against him, you wiped the floor with him. And you've been doing so ever since. I have those memories! I have the memories of blowing Ridley apart, knocking him down so that some Chozo Statues can finish the job, falling on top of him and force-feeding him Power Beam shots while falling down a shaft, etcetera. I should not be freezing against him!"

"Maybe they accentuated your fear of Ridley in you," Kreatz offered, trying to cheer Clone Samus up, albeit unsuccessfully. She gave Kreatz a frown, but Prime Samus then said, "Don't discount what he said. Every time I fight Ridley, I'm scared. I would be stupid to not be a little scared when I fight an enemy as powerful as Ridley. The thing is what I do with that fear. And that is what you need to think about should you face him, or his clone, again. You may have the memories, but you don't have the actual experiences," Samus explained. "Once you gain those experiences directly, you'll react to Ridley no different than I do."

Clone Samus gave a slight smile, though her helmet shielded it from being seen. "Thank you, Samus," the clone responded sincerely.

While Samus and Clone Samus had been having their talk, Adam had been at the console, trying to activate the station's autodestruct sequence. So far, though, he was having no success. He tried typing in another command and immediately, the console shorted out, as did all of the other bridge computer consoles. Lightning arced around all of the consoles and they immediately went dark.

"No," Adam cried. "MB must have done something to the main computer."

"What's wrong?" Mauk asked, coming over to Adam.

"The main computer fried the consoles," he answered. "I can't activate the autodestruct from here. I'll have to go down to Main Engineering to override the computer's control and activate it manually."

"Where's Main Engineering?" Samus asked.

"Several levels down," Adam responded. "Follow me!"

Adam then proceeded to make for the exit to the bridge when the doors shut, leaving him stranded. Samus then stepped forward and leveled her arm cannon at the doors. She then fired a regular missile at the door, which struck the door and blew a hole into it large enough to allow them to exit the bridge. As Samus fired the missile, Adam had noticed the Chozo Technology Disruptor pistol and picked it up, placing it in one of his suit's holsters. Once Samus had blown a hole in the doors and given them an exit, the group left the bridge and entered the corridor. Adam led the way, followed by Samus and Clone Samus, then Anthony, and finally, Kreatz and Mauk.

In the corridor, a large number of enemies ranging from Reos to Zebesians to Kyratians to Rhedogians came to meet them. Not wasting any time, Samus and Clone Samus immediately jumped into the air and somersaulted. As they did so, a field of yellow energy surrounded each of them, indicating that their Screw Attacks were active. They Screw Attacked their way through the waves of enemies, shredding each enemy they came into contact with immediately upon making contact with them. All throughout the corridor, the two continued to buzzsaw their way through wave after wave of enemies, with Anthony, Adam, Kreatz, and Mauk picking off any that managed to survive the Samuses buzzsaw through the corridor.

None of the bioweapons were able to withstand the onslaught of Clone Samus and the original Samus Aran. In addition, none of the weapons could penetrate the shield that the Screw Attack energy field produced over the two bounty hunters. They continued to somersault through their enemies, plowing through them and killing them to clear the way for Adam and the others. The whine of sporadic energy fire echoed behind the two of them, but the infrequency of the fire indicated that not many of the enemies they faced in the corridors managed to survive. And most of those that did survive fled the scene after the two warriors had passed.

It was not long before they reached the next corridor and found a door at the end of it. There were no bioweapons present, but they both wanted to make sure, so they fired a series of missiles at various vents in the ceiling, and on high on the walls. Some of the vents were unoccupied, but others had contained Super Zebesians. Upon the destruction of the vents, the Super Zebesians, Zebesian Space Pirate clones dressed in red armor, were flung to the floor, where they landed in heaps. Samus and Clone Samus soon powered their Plasma Beams and fired on them. Samus's beam was more powerful and struck the Zebesian on the right, inflicting a great deal of damage to the creature. While Clone Samus's beam was less powerful in terms of raw firepower, its Diffusion capability allowed it to explode on impact like a missile. The beam struck the Zebesian on the left and the beam exploded. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Zebesian, and outright killed the already injured Zebesian on the right. Samus and Clone Samus then fired a few uncharged Plasma Beam shots into the remaining Zebesian and felled it. Once the fight was over, they looked back and ushered the others through the corridor. They soon reached the door and proceeded on through.

On the other side of the door, they group found themselves in a large, circular chamber with a massive elevator in the center of the room. Samus led the way to the elevator, followed closely by Clone Samus, then Anthony, Kreatz, and Mauk, with Adam hanging back. Adam took a deep breath and said, "Forgive me, Samus." He then took out the Chozo Disruptor Pistol and took aim at Samus. As Anthony looked back and saw Adam firing on Samus, he cried, "Samus, watch out!" But he was too late.

Samus was approaching the elevator as static suddenly filled her HUD screen. After a second, her vision returned but she could feel her suit deactivating and soon, she was standing on the ground without her armored suit. She looked back and saw Adam lower the disruptor and glared at him.

"What the hell was that, General?" Anthony screamed at the top of his lungs. "She's an ally!"

Adam merely looked sternly at him and then focused his eyes on Samus. Clone Samus then jumped in front of Prime Samus and pointed her arm cannon at Adam, staring at him in the eye. "What are you doing Adam?" she cried. "She's your friend!"

"And that's why I disabled her suit," Adam replied crisply, approaching the two of them, though both Samuses could see that he took no pleasure in the action that he had taken. He holstered his weapons, looking Samus in the eyes, and said, "This trip is a one-way trip Samus. Even if I can somehow manage to destroy whatever Aurora Unit is controlling the station, there are still security protocols in place to prevent an autodestruct sequence from activating. The same thing happened on Sector Zero of the _Bottle Ship_. I won't make the same mistake this time." He then pulled out a bomb and said, "I'm going to finish the job myself, this time. As the old saying goes: 'If you want the job done right, you have to do it yourself.'"

He then went to walk by the two Samuses when Prime Samus stepped out and grabbed him by the shoulders and restrained him, looking him in the eyes. "Wait, Adam," she began forcefully. "You don't have to do this! Let me go. This is why I became a bounty hunter: to protect the galaxy, and the universe. This is what the Chozo trained me to do. This is the path I have chosen."

"And pragmatically speaking, that's the one reason why I can't let you do this," Adam responded with a soft and understanding tone. "You are the true protector of the galaxy. Me? I'm only a human general in the Galactic Federation Army. I can easily be replaced by an officer who's just as good at his job as I am."

"No," Samus countered. "That's not good enough. You're one of the best generals in the Galactic Federation. You're not just one man, one general. You're Commander General Adam Malkovich."

"And you're not just one woman, or one bounty hunter," Adam countered, though his tone was kind and understanding. "You are Samus Aran, one of my closest friends; and I care for you greatly. I can't let you throw away your life taking out a mere station to solve a problem that only came about because of the wishes of a few corrupt men. Besides, the others will never make it back to your ship to get off of this station without you."

"My clone can get them out of here," Samus countered. She then turned to her clone and said, "Make sure you get the others out of here, including Adam. And once you do, live a good and happy life."

Clone Samus merely stood there, not saying a word, uncertain as to whose side to take in this debate. Adam then told Samus, "You both can live good, happy lives. Just go now. Get out of here. Let me take care of this."

"Adam, I've lost too many friends in my life. You are one of the few that are still alive. Don't throw your life away just for me," she begged.

"I'm not," Adam told her. "I'm sacrificing myself so that others more worthy than me may live," he answered. "You have had so much sadness in your life with the loss of your parents, Gray Voice, the Metroid Hatchling, etcetera. They all had one thing in common. They sacrificed themselves for what they believed in, and they died so that you could live. They valued your life. Don't sacrifice yourself now, Samus, and cause their sacrifice to be in vain. This is my final order. Save the others and live."

"I can't do that, Adam," Samus answered sternly.

"Why not?" Adam asked.

"Because you'll never make it to Main Engineering and the computer core alone," Samus answered. She gave him as kind a smile as she could, but she could not help but grin to herself. She had him, and she knew that she was right. "Do you know how many bioweapons must be between the Main Elevator and Main Engineering? My clone and I made it here as quickly as we did because we had the Screw Attack and used it to plow through the enemies on our way here. You don't have the weaponry or the defenses that we have. It's a suicide mission that has no hope of success."

"We don't have any time to argue this, Samus," Adam blurted angrily. "I read on the consoles that MB had the bioweapons on this ship building a warp drive for the station. From the readouts I read, they're almost done. We can't stand around arguing the point anymore. We have to act!"

"Then let me act!" Samus retorted. "I'm the best qualified to do this anyway. I have the weapons and the abilities to get this job done quickly and efficiently."

"Not without your suit, you don't," Adam responded harshly. "Don't think that this pistol that MB used against you and you stole from her is the only one of its kind. If there are any more of these pistols, just one hit will cripple you for a whole minute."

Samus merely stood before Adam and a golden light surrounded her body. In merely a second, her Varia Suit had reappeared over her body. Her full power was once again restored. She quickly scanned her logbook to make sure that she still had the data regarding Elric's corruption and criminal activities. Good, the data was still there. She then stood before Adam in her full attire, saying nothing, letting the fact that her suit was back speak for itself. She soon saw Adam level his disruptor at her and she quickly jumped to one side as he fired another blast, which went wide of her and struck Clone Samus's suit. Much to Samus's surprise, Clone Samus's suit, which had a both a Varia and a Gravity feature, did not disappear. It remained fully intact and did not appear to suffer any damage, even to its shields.

Clone Samus then stepped forward and said, "Let me put an end to this argument." She paused for a moment, and then said, "I'll do it."

"What?" both Prime Samus and Adam Malkovich blurted. "But you've only had a month to live," Samus said, tears nearly forming in her eyes. Despite just meeting her clone, she viewed her clone almost as a long lost twin sister, rather than a mere clone. "Don't end it so prematurely."

"I wish there was another way," Clone Samus lamented. "But both you and Adam are right. You are of greater importance than me right now. More than anything, you have the information on Elric's activities involving the _Bottle Ship_ and _Research Facility Seven-Seven-Seven_. You must survive and escape if he is to brought to justice. And just as importantly, _I_ am the best qualified for this mission. My suit is Galactic Federation technology based on Chozo tech. It is immune to the disruptor pistol." Prime Samus looked over at her clone and gave a kind, yet sad smile. She was right. Her survival was necessary in order to ensure that Chairman Elric was brought to justice and she rejoined Kreatz, Mauk, and Anthony. Adam was not so ready to give in, yet.

"But you don't have the codes necessary to initiate the self-destruct sequence or lower the containment defenses around the core," Adam countered. "I do."

"I have a Power Bomb," Clone Samus countered.

"There's no guarantee that a Power Bomb will be powerful enough to destroy the reactor," Adam told her. "Either way, I'm going."

"Then I'll join you," she declared. Clone Samus then looked back at Samus one more time. "I wish I could have gotten to know you better. And you guys too," she said, glancing over at Kreatz, Mauk, and Anthony. "I'm really glad I got the chance to meet you for the short time that I did, though," she said, lowering her head, bowing for them. She then turned back to Samus and said, "Go, get out of here, now! Once we arrive down in Main Engineering, there won't be much time. We'll either finish it quickly or not at all. Go!"

She then boarded the elevator with Adam, who looked back at Samus with a sad smile. Then he gave his trademark phrase, one last time, before the elevator doors closed, "No objections. Right lady?"

Samus then powered down her suit so she could hold out her hand and stuck out her thumb in the middle, her hold wavering. Eventually, she turned her thumb upwards and gave Adam her first thumbs up in a while. Her smile echoed his own sad smile and she declared, "I'll make sure they know that you're a hero." With that, the door closed and Samus reactivated her suit.

Before the door closed, Clone Samus called back and told her, "Samus, the ship I used to get here is in the Main Hanger Bay! Just follow the corridor all the way to the large set of double doors!" With that, the elevator door closed and Adam and Clone Samus rode it down to Main Engineering.

Prime Samus then turned back to Kreatz, Mauk, and Anthony and told them, "Hurry, we don't have much time." The group then charged back out into the corridor, hoping that more bioweapons had not come to replace the fallen.

Clone Samus and Adam stood on the elevator as it descended to the Main Engineering level. After ten seconds, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Sure enough, a dozen Rhedogians stood in the corridor, waiting for the two to emerge. Clone Samus obliged them and performed a Screw Attack. A yellow field of energy was emitted from various points on her armor as she somersaulted through the air, and plowed through the Rhedogians with contemptuous ease. Adam rushed after her, staying close to her so that her attack would shield him from any enemy fire. He needed to get to the main computer controls so that he could activate the self-destruct. He would make sure that it was an instantaneous self-destruct, though, so that there would be no chance of the computer overriding his command.

After the Rhedogian threat was neutralized, they found the door that led to the corridor that would take them to Main Engineering. They entered the corridor and saw that it was crawling with Zebesians and Kyratians. Clone Samus and Adam opened fire on the creatures and felled them with volleys of energy and plasma fire. Samus stood in front of Adam so as to absorb the incoming attacks for Adam. However, not many of the enemies managed to fire on Samus or Adam before being slaughtered. Once the battle was over, the two headed towards the door that led them out of the corridor and right into Main Engineering.

Upon entering Main Engineering, the two saw that the entire room was lined with tanks containing Metroids, likely unfreezable Metroids, and consoles. On the ceiling were turrets that likely were designed to fire energy blasts at any unwelcome intruders. In the center of the room stood the main core, a matter/antimatter reactor. A single breach to the containment field would annihilate the entire station and wipe out all of the bioweapons, even the Metroids. However, sitting inside a glass container on a hoversled was an Aurora Unit. The unit was almost as tall as Samus and Adam and strongly resembled a human brain.

"I am MB One-Point-Five. Intruders spotted," an androgynous voice said, upon spotting them. Adam grimaced. It looked as if MB had downloaded a copy of her personality, or at least her goals, into the Aurora Unit. "Defense systems activate! Terminate all human lifeforms!"

Immediately, the defense turrets came online and began targeting Samus and Adam. Samus stood in front of Adam and absorbed their fire, targeting each turret with a single missile and destroying it. One by one, the turrets were destroyed. However, soon, a greater defense would come to the aid of the Aurora Unit, for crashing through the ceiling came a full-grown Ridley bio-form.

"Ridley," Clone Samus muttered as she began to sweat. However, she resolved to not freeze this time. She would make Adam and her original proud. She would deal with Ridley herself and finally end the nightmare he posed, once and for all. She clenched her fist and then pointed her arm cannon at Ridley, shouting, "Okay, Ridley. Now it ends!"

Ridley obliged her by unleashing a stream of plasma at Samus, which she deftly dodged by sense-moving out of the way. As she did so, she charged her Plasma Beam and unleashed her charged Plasma Beam shot at Ridley. She scored a direct hit on his chest, but Ridley was far from finished. He then rose into the air and stabbed his tail down at Samus, who constantly avoided the tail by diving out of its way. When Ridley rested for a second, Clone Samus unleashed her charged Plasma Beam shot. She scored a direct hit on Ridley's chest and he recoiled in pain. However, he was not down, and he was not out. He then charged Samus and attempted to grab her. Clone Samus was too quick for him and she managed to avoid his charge. She then fired another charged Plasma shot and scored another hit. However, her scans indicated that he still had a lot of life left in him. It would be a while before she inflicted enough damage to take him down.

While Samus was engaging Ridley, Adam went over to the main terminal and entered a series of codes into the computer. Just as had happened on the bridge, the computer denied him access to the self-destruct protocols. He then felt the Aurora Unit zeroing in on him from behind and dove to the floor as it fired a beam from its eye. The beam sailed above him and he turned and opened fire on the stasis tank that protected the organic supercomputer. His energy blasts splashed harmlessly against the tank's outer covering. He looked past the Aurora Unit and saw that Clone Samus had her hands full with Ridley. He would have to battle the Aurora Unit alone. He drew out his normal assault rifle and targeted the stasis tank, remembering that physical weapons were known to be effective against it. His gunfire struck the glass and cracks began to form along the shell. He then drew out a gray motion-sensor bomb and tossed it to the cracking glass. There, it stuck until the Aurora Unit foolishly swiveled and tried to draw a bead on him. The bomb then exploded, shattering the tank, sending several glass shards inward, which embedded themselves into the brain. With the brain exposed, and already having suffered damage due to the bomb's explosion, Adam drew his energy rifle once more and proceeded to pump energy fire into the Aurora Unit. Despite its defenses, the Aurora was unable to withstand Adam's assault, especially with its membrane already having been breached by several shards of glass. It was not long before Adam started to inflict catastrophic damage to the supercomputer. Adam's energy bursts burned the organic membrane and the interior of the brain, which disrupted many of its organic functions, causing the brain to malfunction. The end was near for the brain. If the Aurora Unit was not already dead, it soon would be. Adam merely made certain that it was dead when the hoversled ceased to function and fell to the floor, the Aurora Unit's remains rolling onto the floor. Adam fired a few more shots into the unit, completely obliterating the brain, ending its threat permanently. Once the Aurora Unit was completely destroyed, he headed over towards the main computer terminal, hoping that now he could enter the proper codes to start the self-destruct sequence. As the computer was destroyed, though, he saw all of the doors turn red, indicating that he and Clone Samus were trapped inside. He looked over at Samus and saw that she was still fighting Ridley, but was at the very least holding her own.

In her fight against the massive space dragon, Samus held the edge against Ridley. Ridley had only managed to hit her once with his plasma breath, while Samus had managed to score several direct hits on him with her Super Missiles and charged Plasma Beam blasts. Ridley was beginning to look quite ragged while Clone Samus was still healthy, relatively speaking. Clone Samus knew that Clone Ridley's end was close, so she readied another Super Missile and waited for Ridley to dive towards her. Once he did so, she sense-moved out of the way and dodged his strike. She then turned and fired her missile on Ridley. Clone Ridley turned and roared, only to have the Super Missile fly right into his mouth. The missile exploded as Ridley reflexively closed his mouth and blew apart Ridley in the process.

Once the fight was over, Clone Samus looked back at Adam, who was working at the console, inputting his command codes. She quickly noticed that despite the destroyed Aurora Unit lying on the floor, the security systems were still functional and beginning to target Adam. She then turned her arm cannon to the nearest cannons and opened fire, praying that they would focus on her, rather than go after Adam. After Samus took down a few cannons, the rest focused their fire on her, ensuring that Adam could work without having to worry about them.

Back at the console, Adam tried using his command codes once more. Again, access was denied. He did not know why. The data screen then flashed up on the monitor, reading, _You will not succeed General Malkovich. My directive is clear. For the good of the galaxy, I must destroy the Galactic Federation_.

"But you don't have to! Samus and the others are going to take down those that did this to you, MB!" he cried, trying to reason with the computer.

_MB is dead_, the screen read. _Aurora Unit MB 1.5 is dead. All that is left is my directive. I must carry out my final directive, the destruction of the Galactic Federation_. It was no use. He could not get through to the computer. Adam then pulled out his rifle and began firing on the reactor. He knew that if he could breach the containment field, then the uncontrolled matter/antimatter reaction would destroy the entire station. Still, his fire was insufficient to breach the container. He was not surprised. The containment field was designed to prevent the ludicrous amounts of energy produced from the core from leaking out and destroying the station. He had to find a way to lower the containment field so that he could destroy the ship. He then went back to the console and began to type in the commands again. However, this time, electricity erupted from the console and shocked him. Electricity arced across his body and he soon fell to the floor, seemingly unconscious.

Clone Samus witnessed Adam being shocked and rushed over to check on his condition. As she approached, his eyes shot open and he quickly rose. He faced her and said, "Don't worry Samus, I'm fine." However, his tone was off.

Samus approached him and asked, "Are you sure? That shock looked pretty nasty."

"I said I'm fine!" he snapped. Samus was taken aback by the sudden change in Adam's behavior.

"Okay," Samus said, with a note of uncertainty in her voice.

She then approached the main terminal, deactivating her suit, since she wanted to hack the computer with both of her hands being available since her Federation designed Power Suit did not have a Scan Visor. She looked over at the terminal and soon saw blood-red letters appear on the data screen, reading, _Samus, behind you!_

Samus turned around and saw Adam pointing his gun at her. He pulled the trigger and fired his energy blast at Samus. Her Zero Suit's shields were instantly depleted by merely one shot. She then dove out of the way of the subsequent shot as one of the defensive cannons that had not been destroyed targeted Adam, who was acting very strange. Adam pursued her, a sadistic gleam in his eyes. He soon pulled the trigger of his gun once more and he fired a single shot at her. The shot struck Samus in the lower right part of her abdomen and she cried out in pain as she fell to the ground, a hole burned into her side. She struggled to crawl away from Adam as he leered down at her, a sadistic gleam in his eyes. "Samus, I'm going to kill you now, and lead my bioweapons and Metroids to Daiban and have them devour every single idiotic person on that planet. Any objections, lady?" he added mockingly.

But before he could finish her off, a voice sounded from various speakers all around Main Engineering, saying, "Yes." The defensive turret then opened fire on Adam and a hole was burned through his chest, armor and all. As Adam fell to the ground, the turret fired on him once more and annihilated his head, ensuring that Adam's body was dead.

As Samus's eyes went wide at the sight of Adam's seeming death, the voice sounded over the speakers again. "Samus, you must power up your suit." The voice sounded just like Adam's. "I have managed to isolate the systems that power the containment field. You must destroy the joints above the main reactor to weaken the field enough that there will be breaches in containment system."

"Adam, is that you?" Clone Samus asked, incredulous at what she was hearing.

"Yes, it's me," the voice responded.

"But how?"

"While the MB persona created in the computer core was taking over my body, I piggybacked the signal and took over the computer," Adam explained. "It is the only way I can lower the defenses of the station so that you can destroy it. I have been locked out of the computer's primary systems." He then paused for a moment before continuing, "Samus, the warp drive is complete and it is beginning to power up. You have to destroy the station now. It is slaved to jump right to Daiban and emerged from subspace right on top of Galactic Federation Headquarters, inside the atmosphere of Daiban. From there, it will crash into GFHQ and the computer will then spread all of the bioweapons on this all across Daiban. Billions will die, and that's before the chaos of having the Federation Council and Chairman killed."

"But what about you?"

"I'm already dead, Samus," Adam told her. "I made certain of that when I blew my own head off. Samus, you must destroy this station now. I won't be able to control the secondary systems for much longer. You have to do it now."

"Okay," Samus said as she struggled to stand, holding her side. She concentrated and reactivated her Power Suit. Her suit formed over her body and she turned and took aim at the connection joints above the main reactor. She then activated her Seeker Missiles and locked onto the joints. Upon locking onto the joints, she fired her Seeker Missiles at the joints. Missiles erupted from her arm cannon and split apart, streaking towards the joints. The missiles struck the joints and detonated, blowing the joints apart. With the joints having been destroyed, the containment field fluctuated for an instant. In that instant, the energy contained within the matter/antimatter reactor breached the weakened field and was freed. The energy liberated from the reactor then consumed Samus, and the rest of the station in the blink of an eye.

During Adam and Clone Samus's trip down to Main Engineering and the main reactor, Prime Samus led Anthony, Kreatz, and Mauk through the corridor back to the gunship her clone used to get to the station. The corridors were lined with the remains of dead bioweapons and Federation Army Troopers. A few bioweapons, furry white creatures with bird-like feet that Samus did not know were juvenile Ridleys, were feasting on the remains of the fallen, but they scurried out of the way of Samus when she came rushing through, followed by three other soldiers. Anthony, however, took a few shots at the creatures, obliterating them. Samus looked back at him questioningly, but he merely responded, "What? I don't wanna have to face another Ridley?"

"Those things were Ridleys?" Mauk asked, a shocked expression crossing his face at the statement.

"Sure were," Anthony replied.

Samus and Kreatz did not really care about the new discovery, though. They just wanted to get to Samus's gunship as quickly as possible. Since she did not know how much time they had, she did not bother to stop when she faced any Zebesians or other creatures. She merely kept her Wave Beam charged and fired on any bioweapons that took too much interest in the fleeing warriors. A few Zebesians tried to bar her way, only to be shot down by Samus and Anthony. They soon came to a dead end and went through a door to their right.

In the next room, there was a long walkway that led over a grassy area. Samus switched to her Plasma Beam and fired on the two Zebesians in the walkway that tried to halt their progress. Her charged shots quickly felled the creatures with single shots, and set their carcasses ablaze as well. Once they crossed the chasm, they entered another set of doors.

The next room was large room but only had one exit, which was the entrance to the Main Hangar Bay. A few Zebesians prowled the area and took a few shots at the heroes, but Samus put them down with a few shots from her Plasma Beam. The party then ran towards the door and upon reaching it, surged on through.

The hangar bay was devoid of any bioweapons and Samus could see her old gunship across the walkway near the exit. She noticed the bodies of several Army Troopers, technicians, and the wreckage of several fighters and other ships also littering the bay. She did not pay any attention to the debris as she ran down a set of stairs, followed by Anthony, Kreatz, and Mauk in single file. They approached the ship at full sprint and Samus opened both the dorsal and ventral hatches. Samus jumped to enter by means of the dorsal hatch, leaving the ventral hatches for Anthony, Kreatz, and Mauk.

She boarded her ship and immediately entered the cockpit cabin. She entered at the same time Anthony did and they both took the pilot and co-pilot's seat respectively. After that, Kreatz came onboard, and finally, Mauk was the last to enter. Once Mauk was onboard, Kreatz called, "That's everyone, Samus. Let's get out of here!"

Samus then initiated the startup sequence and her ship's engines sprang to life. The ship shook as it lifted off from the bay's floor. Samus then turned the ship until it was facing the exit of the hangar bay. She then took the ship through opening and rocketed away from the station as fast as she could, wanting to be as far away as possible before the station exploded. She then shifted raised the shields of her gunship and shifted power from the ship's weapons to reinforce the shields. For the first several seconds, there was nothing as the station remained off in the distance. A few seconds later, though, a bright light emanated from the station and it exploded in a magnificent display of light and fire. Kreatz and Mauk covered their eyes so as not to be blinded by the explosion. Samus then turned her ship to face the remains of the station. "Goodbye, Adam," she said softly, looking down at her console.

She was about to turn away from the station and head back to Daiban when she picked up an electronic signature from the debris. Anthony also saw this and, turning to her, asked, "Are you seeing this?"

"Yes," Samus responded curtly. Kreatz and Mauk soon came over to Samus and hovered over her.

"Man, what's that?" Kreatz asked.

"It looks like some sort of electronic signature," Mauk answered for Samus. They then detected a radio signal emanating from it. Mauk looked over at Samus and asked, "What do we do?"

"We investigate," she replied, as she powered the ship's engines and took her ship into the debris field that had once been _Research Facility 777_.

Her ship avoided the larger pieces of metal as they flew around her ship. The smaller pieces of metal impacted her ship's shields but did not inflict any real damage to them. Samus glanced at her sensor display and HUD and found that she was rapidly closing in on the signal. Scanning her sensors and looking out the view port and found that the source of the electronic signature, as well as the radio signal, was a small, black box. "Wow," Anthony said, "It looks like one of those old black box recording devices from old Earth airplanes."

Samus could not help but notice the similarity. "Do you think MB's hidden her programming in that thing?" Kreatz asked.

The thought had crossed Samus's mind and she was tempted to deploy her ship's energy cannons and destroy it, but something in Samus's heart made her think twice before taking such a rash action. "I don't know," Samus answered. One part of her thought she was crazy, but another was hopeful that this was some last remnant of information, or a testimony as to Adam's courage in sacrificing himself for the greater good. "I'm going to bring it onboard."

Kreatz's eyes flashed. "Are you nuts?"

"Maybe," Samus responded. "But it may be something else entirely. And if this holds a sample of the information already held within my own logbook, then this will corroborate the evidence that Anthony and I have already recorded on Elric. Don't worry, I'll take every security precaution there is to make sure that it's not MB and that if it is, she won't be able to take over the ship."

With that, Samus inched her ship closer to the black box until she was just over it. She then opened a cargo hatch from the bottom of her ship and a small arm extended. The arm then brought the box into the small hold. There, it underwent a deep sensor scan. The information that was contained was downloaded to a computer separate from her all of her other ship computers and systems. The information contained a images and recordings of all of the ringleaders of the conspiracy, including their mention of Elric and their plans for takeover, despite him being their benefactor. She also saw signs of other pieces of data, but could not make them out. One thing she did know, though, was that there was no trace of MB or Mother Brain's programming on that box. She then looked up and told everyone, "It's clean, and even better. The information stored in this black box corroborates all of the information that we obtained from the Control Bridge recording, and more."

"Man, I wouldn't want to be Elric when this gets out," Kreatz said jovially.

The others agreed. Samus, however, was silent on the issue. She still felt a great emptiness in her heart at the loss of Adam and her clone, two more friends that she had to add to the honor roll. But there was still something tugging at her heart, and she felt as if Adam might not have been as far away as she had believed. Little did she know how right she was as she turned her ship around and jumped to warp.


	15. Epilogue

Epilogue:

Samus awakened in the middle of the night in her apartment in one of the massive city blocks on Daiban. She glanced over at the clock and saw that it was two o'clock in the morning. She sighed as she then lay back down in bed and tried to fall back asleep. Thoughts surrounding the week's events swirled around in her head. She thought about Adam and her clone, who had only lived for a month before sacrificing herself with Adam so that Samus and the others could live. She only hoped that her clone had made the most of her life before her last mission.

Her thoughts then focused back to the testimony before the Galactic Federation Council on the events of the assault on _Research Facility 777_ and the testimony as to the Space Pirate attack on planet Z-1A and the reappearance of the Space Pirate general, Ridley. With the destruction of the Space Pirate frigate, Ridley's trail had gone cold. She merely hoped that the technology and information recovered from the downed Space Pirate Transport was everything that the Space Pirates had taken from Z-1A. Federation Research Team was swarming around the planet with the discovery of the Chozo technology and artifacts. The _G.F.S. Olympus_ under the command of Admiral Castor Dane was stationed around Z-1A to provide security for the colony until further notice. The Federation was very interested in the technology and artifacts that had been found on planet. It had taken an even keener interest at the mention of a race known as the Magic Lords, which were stronger than the Chozo were, individually. According to her scan logs, only an alliance between the Chozo, Luminoth, N'Kren, and Ylla had managed to beat back the Magic Lords, or Dragon Lords as they were sometimes called. The Federation Council was already sending envoys to Aether to talk to the Luminoth to see if these Magic Lords were still alive, and if so, the likelihood of facing them in the near future.

As for the testimony about the assault on _Research Facility 777_; itself, while the Council was relieved that the threat posed by MB and the bioweapons on the research facility were finally eliminated, they were quick to point out that the cost was far too high, which both Samus and Anthony could not disagree with. The loss of the troopship _G.F.S. Loki_, and practically its entire complement of equipment and troops, was a terrible loss. Thousands of troops had lost their lives in the mission, and for very little gain. What really shocked the Council, and Chairman Elric, however, was the information from Samus's logbook, Anthony's recorder, and from the black box recovered from the station after its destruction. It basically told the Council that Chamolos, Eiden, Drayka, and Elric were all in on the secret projects that were being conducted onboard the _Bottle Ship_ and _Research Facility 777_. Even worse was the information and recording regarding cloning of Samus Aran and the engineering of her to make her more docile and submissive to Federation orders, a clear violation of multiple Sentient Rights laws, as well as setting up Commander General Adam Malkovich and Platoon 07 to die during the _Bottle Ship_ Incident.

Chairman Elric, of course, said that it was all falsehoods planted by the ringleaders to try to turn the Galactic Federation against itself and its leadership to spite the Federation should their plans be discovered and fail. However, scans using the most acute of Federation sensors and even Luminoth sensors indicated that the data was one hundred percent legitimate. The Council would, of course, investigate further to verify the validity of the information and to confirm it, themselves, but so far, every test they performed said that it was legitimate and not forged at all. Not only that, but a number of witnesses were already coming forward to testify against Chairman Elric and the few cohorts of his that were still alive, not only on the issues regarding the _Bottle Ship_, but on issues regarding deals that were made with the Space Pirates during the Phazon Crisis. Earth's representative on the Council, Councilman Williams, was leading the investigative panel into Elric's dealings. In addition, he was also investigating Cyrus's potential knowledge of Elric's actions, particularly to see if he had a role in former Chairman Keaton's assassination. All in all, it was not a good few days for the Chairman. But the process was far from over.

Samus then rose from her bed and went over to her computer to check her mail to see if there were any offers for jobs, or if she was going to be called to give more testimony before the Galactic Federation Council, or whatever committee was investigating all of the allegations that were being brought to light in the wake of Samus's deposition to the Council. She found that there was an offer from a corporation called Biologic Space Labs. She clicked on the message and it told Samus that they were planning on sending a research team down to SR388 to study the wildlife down there, and that they needed a guide that was familiar to the planet. Samus smiled. She figured that it would be a good job to get her mind off of the events of the last few days. She also suspected that it would not be as strenuous as her last few missions. Babysitting a group of scientists may be boring, but she knew that there were still dangerous lifeforms on SR388. She decided that she would take the job. She then wrote her response to Biologic Space Labs and waited for them to tell her when and where to report for the mission. Once that was finished, she went about getting some breakfast and readying herself for her next mission.

In the far reaches of space, beyond the borders of the Galactic Federation, Ridley's Heavy Assault Transport emerged from warp in the void between star systems. There were few ships that ever went in between star systems so the transport pilot figured that this would be a good spot to stop and get some bearings before continuing. They had been on the run, dodging Federation patrols ever since they had escaped planet Z-1A with a wounded Ridley. The transport pilot looked back at his leader and could see that slowly, but surely, Ridley was healing from his battle against Samus Aran. The co-pilot, a normal Pirate Trooper, glanced at his sensor displays and reported, "We have emerged from subspace in Sector Two-by-Five-by-Alpha. Sensors indicate no Galactic Federation patrol vessels or Kriken Empire vessels in the vicinity."

"Good," Ridley said, weakly as he rose to speak. He knew that there would be no vessels here, though. No one in their right minds jumped back into normal space in the complete void between star systems, where resources were practically non-existent. Any ship that patrolled the area in between stars either had to be very well stocked for the trip, or reliant on supply ships, which were magnets for pirate forces, just like the Space Pirates.

The doctors tending to him ushered him back down onto the bed and advised him, "Don't strain yourself Lord Ridley. You're still healing from the battle against Samus."

Ridley gave a grunt. He did not like being told what to do, but he knew that he was lucky to be alive. Samus really hated his guts and she had really clobbered him in their last battle. It was just like their two fights on Zebes. Had the transport not come to help him when it did, he _would_ have been killed by Samus. He settled back down onto he bed, heeding the doctors' advice when the co-pilot blurted, "Lord Ridley, you're not going to believe this, but I'm picking up a station close by."

This surprised Ridley and he attempted to rise, but a jolt of pain caused him to wince and lie back down onto the bed. "How close?" Ridley asked. If there was a station nearby, then they may have already been detected.

Both the pilot and co-pilot's eyes went wide when the reading came. "Only one million kilometers," they both stammered. "That's within firing range of some starships."

"Well, we're still here," one of the Elite Pirates stationed at one of the tactical consoles commented. "Can you get any scans of the station?" the Elite Pirate asked.

"We'll have to get closer for a detailed scan if the station is shielded, but we should be able to at least get a cursory scan from here," the pilot responded. He then proceeded to take the transport closer to the station, while telling the co-pilot, "Begin scanning now."

"Yes, sir," the co-pilot responded.

The scanners then activated and the display screen soon showed a large station not too far away from the position of the transport. Surprisingly, the scanners were able to get detailed scans of the station. As they got a good look at the scans, their eyes went wide with glee, and they began to shudder with excitement. Once the scans were added to the logbook of the ship, the co-pilot turned back to the Elite Pirate and Ridley, telling them, "Sir and Lord, we've finished our first scans of the station. You're going to love it. This station has no defenses, and has no living crewmembers or active personnel. It's completely automated. Not only that, but I'm getting massive lifeform readings, but they appear to be in a state of suspended animation."

When the Pirate finished his analysis, Ridley was not all that pleased at the curtness of his report. "Anything else?"

"No, my lord. The stasis pods are shielded against bio-scans, so we'll need to board the station to see what's inside. Should we board it to see if there's anything worth taking?"

Ridley considered the co-pilot's request. He felt as if he was strong enough to perform a boarding action if necessary, but he did not want to risk lingering in one place for too long, even if it was a good hiding area. "Sure, why not?" He then called out to the others, "Prepare a boarding party! I want at least one Elite Pirate and a pair of Pirate Commandos in the party. We're going to board that station, but do note, if you get in trouble, retreat immediately. We can't afford anymore losses than we've already suffered."

"Yes, Lord Ridley," the rest of the Pirates cried as they saluted him and began making preparations for boarding the station.

Back on Daiban, in Chairman Elric's office, Elric looked at the reports of the testimony of those who were involved in the projects onboard the _Bottle Ship_ and _Research Facility 777_. It was looking really bad for him. To be exposed as having violated some of the most sacred laws pertaining to the respect for life, and the use of bioweapons, was bad enough. To be accused of having assassinated the previous Chairman of the Galactic Federation, as well as the source of the information being his own voice, made things even worse. He knew that there was no way that he would be able to survive this, politically. Of course, the Council would not vote immediately. They wanted to hear more testimony and build a rock solid case against him, but it certainly seemed as if the end was coming for him. There were already calls for his resignation by his opponents, and even by some of his allies, hoping that by resigning, he would not expose _their_ dirty deeds. He had declared a galactic wide state of martial law until things seemed to calm down, but that was not being followed in many places, particularly Earth. Even worse was that now, planets were repealing certain laws that gave the Galactic Federation a great deal of power over individual planets and implementing their own laws. Earth was the first to do so, though Earth was not exactly enforcing certain Federation laws such as curfews, martial law, and had already kicked off Chamolos's Internal Security Force agents.

Elric sighed. He had dreamed of taking the Galactic Federation to the next level and transforming it first into a Galactic Empire, and then, an Intergalactic Empire. What was worse was that he knew that Cyrus would almost certainly take advantage of this opportunity. He had used Cyrus to get the position of Chairman, and had made Cyrus the Vice-Chairman after Keaton's death, despite the fact that traditionally, the Speaker of the Council got the position should the initial Chairman die in office. All that he could do now was hope that something happened to keep the other witnesses from testifying. There were too many for him to kill. If they all died mysteriously, then all of the suspicion would fall onto him. And there were too many to kill for their deaths to not look like an accident. Still, there was some hope. He had some supporters left on the Council and in other areas of the government, like the Director of Biologic Space Labs. If they did not do anything stupid, he could likely call upon them for help. With that thought, he merely sat back in his chair and got to work. He was not impeached, or dead, yet. Besides, if it came to a fight, he still had his secret forces that only he and General Cutter had known about: the Special Forces onboard the _Space Lab Moreau_.

A chime soon rang and Elric asked gruffly, "Who is it?"

"Chairman of Defense, Rickard Lorenz," came the reply from outside the office.

"Enter," Elric barked, recognizing Lorenz's voice.

The doors slid open and Lorenz entered the room, the doors closing behind him. "You wished to see me, sir?" Lorenz asked.

"Yes," Chairman Elric stated. "Take a seat, Rickard," Elric said, motioning for the Chairman of the Defense Department to sit. The Chairman did so and after he was situated comfortably, Elric got underway with his business. "Rickard, as you know, the last few days have been tough, and the next few days aren't looking any better for us."

"I know," Lorenz said, nodding. "The deposition given by Samus Aran, Anthony Higgs, along with the information contained in the black box from _Research Facility 777_, is damning to say the least."

"That's why I need your help. We have to accelerate our plans, if we are to accomplish our objectives," Elric told him. "Cyrus will almost certainly be against us…"

"Then that should secure Earth in our camp," Lorenz noted with a chuckle.

Elric shook his head. "No, it won't. All it will mean is that Earth will secede sooner than expected, and we'll be too embroiled in a Galactic Federation civil war to be able to devote the necessary resources to bring Earth back into the fold. By then, Earth will have already dealt with Cyrus. After all, Cyrus's primary interest is Earth anyway. Nothing else seems to matter to him. But I digress. Back to the topic at hand, we need to organize our forces quickly and discretely. Earth won't be loyal to us, or Cyrus's people, and neither will many of Earth's inner colonies on the Orion Arm."

"That is unfortunate, since Aliehs III is one of the primary starship manufacturing worlds in the Federation," Lorenz lamented.

"Then you know why we are in a lot of trouble. I'm calling in all of the favors I can, but we can't rely on the Luminoth or any non-ascended Chozo worlds to help us in a civil war, especially with the information that has already gotten out on me, and maybe even on Cyrus as well." Elric then changed the subject a little and asked, "You managed to get the black box and examine it. Did you find any evidence whatsoever that the information could have been planted or faked in any way?"

Lorenz shook his head. "No, Chairman, but I did find something else peculiar. Something that was totally unexpected."

Elric was getting impatient and was already in a foul mood. "What is it?" he barked.

"We found another set of data stored inside the black box. This data was organized in what looked to be memory pathways. Upon further inspection, we found that these memories had once belonged to the now late Commander General Adam Malkovich." Elric did not look interested, but Lorenz was not finished yet. "Another examination found that it was not just Adam's memories or personality that was stored in the black box, but his entire mind and soul as well."

This got Elric's attention. "You're telling me that Adam Malkovich is alive, in a fashion?"

Lorenz nodded. "Yes, sir," he responded. "He is alive in the computer, and apparently, well."

"No," Elric almost lamented in dread.

"Why is this so troubling, sir?" Lorenz asked, not understanding why Elric was so distraught. "With a mind like Commander General Malkovich's on our side, we might have a chance of winning this upcoming battle."

"Adam would never side with me after the _Bottle Ship_ Incident," Elric almost yelled. "If Samus and Captain Higgs got the information that they did, chances are that Adam has it as well."

"Then all we have to do is reveal all of the dirt we have on Cyrus when the battle begins," Lorenz stated. "That, as well as a download to another computer and a little reprogramming should allow us to keep Adam's mind and knowledge, but not his personality and soul in the process."

"Then do it," Elric commanded. "We can't let anyone discover that Adam Malkovich is still alive. Take the box with Adam over to the Main Research Center and have him downloaded into a detachable computer unit. If after the additional programming is added, a little too much of Adam Malkovich's personality seems to resurface, send him on a suicide mission."

"Understood, sir," Lorenz answered, saluting the Chairman.

"Dismissed!" Elric barked.

Lorenz then proceeded to rise and leave Elric's office. Elric then slumped back into his chair. All of his plans were coming crashing down, but it was not over yet. He could still achieve his full takeover. After all, he did not _need_ Earth and its colonies. While having colonies like Aliehs III was important, it was not essential for his Galactic Federation, or Empire, to survive. If he had to lose a few planets, then so be it, just as long as the rest of the Federation planets did not get any ideas, he was fine with it. Besides, he could always reconquer them at a later date.

Meanwhile, on planet Earth, in a non-descript looking warehouse in Veilstone City in the Sinnoh Region of Japan, Cyrus stood alone, flanked by two guards that were wearing gray uniforms with a stylized "G" on their chest. He did not like the fact that his personal guards had taken to wearing Team Galactic uniforms so close to the public, but he did not admonish them. He knew that they did so to show him that they were loyal, no matter what. The side door to the warehouse soon opened and a short, overweight man with gray hair walked down a few steps and came to Cyrus. Cyrus had been expecting his Police Chief. Charon merely gave a smile.

"It's been a long time since we met here," Charon said, noticing the surroundings.

"It's essential that we are not being recorded, and people won't take notice of a warehouse that has few stores inside," Cyrus answered. "Is it done?"

Charon nodded. "Biologic Space Labs is sending a research team to planet SR388. They're almost certain to encounter the X Parasites and discover some of their properties. Even better, Samus Aran is going with them."

Cyrus's eyes lit up at that statement. "Then we'll be killing two birds with one stone!" he exclaimed. "And once the universe is suffering due to the rampant spread of X infestation, then we will be able to convince the Original Pokémon to remake the entire universe in our image."

"You'll still need the help of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn for this to have the best chance of success," Charon advised.

"That won't be a problem," Cyrus assured him. "Once I'm Chairman, I'll use my executive powers to free Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn from prison and then, our work will begin once more."

The two men then gave a grin as they walked out of the warehouse to discuss other things.

Back in space, the Space Pirate boarding party had already breached the station and was well on its way to the control center of the station. The corridors and rooms were lined with massive numbers of stasis tanks and pulsating pods. The Pirates walked slowly in the corridor, as if any sound would awaken everything surrounding them. Each of the Pirate Troopers had peered into the stasis tanks and found Zebesian Space Pirate Troopers inside them.

"Lord Ridley, you've gotta come see this!" one of the Pirate Troopers exclaimed. "This is a veritable army, here."

Ridley came up from behind the first group of boarding Pirate Troopers and gazed in awe at the army that had been assembled in the stasis tanks in merely one cargo bay. It was as if he were celebrating his birthday. "My goodness," Ridley exclaimed in wonder. "There must be over a thousand of them. And this is only one cargo bay."

"So far, we've found over a quarter million of them throughout the station!" another trooper cried in excitement from a console in the corner of the room. "And we've only explored half the station, so far. Also, as of yet, the soldiers in stasis, but they're not scheduled to be awakened for a while." He then checked the console again and called back to Ridley, saying, "According to the computer, these Pirates are supposed to be commanded by a Federation clone of Mother Brain. This clone, however, is not stationed here. In fact, the computer indicates that the clone was located first on a ship called the _Bottle Ship_ and then relocated to _Research Facility Seven-Seven-Seven_. Contact with the two facilities, however, has been lost and the station's computer was in the process of shutting this project down before we came onboard."

"Don't let the computer shut this project down!" Ridley commanded. A grin then crossed his face as he held a small data crystal in his hand. "With the Chozo technology we downloaded onto this crystal, we have the perfect means of controlling these soldiers. I think we can put them to good use," he said with a sadistic grin.

"Yeah," the Pirate Trooper answered, echoing Ridley's sentiment.

"Watch out galaxy," Ridley said in a low, cold voice. "The Space Pirates are back in business."


End file.
